


Keeping in Touch

by Paladin777



Series: What Came Next [6]
Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: But Nothing Too Bad, Couple violent scenes, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Lyoko Warriors in College, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 70,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladin777/pseuds/Paladin777
Summary: The group has gone to college and the distance makes keeping up with relationships, both platonic and romantic, a little difficult. In the same continuity as all my other works, starts 4 years after XANA's deletion. Mostly UlrichxYumi-centric with a fair bit of JxA. OxSi is a thing too, but it's mostly in the background. LOTS of different friendship dynamics.
Relationships: Jeremie Belpois/Aelita Schaeffer, Odd Della Robbia/Sissi Delmas, Yumi Ishiyama/Original Male Character(s), Yumi Ishiyama/Ulrich Stern
Series: What Came Next [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880596
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I do not, nor will I ever own Code Lyoko. I'm just a fan like y'all!
> 
> A/N: This story takes place after all three What Came Next installments, The News, and A Shoulder to Cry On. There is a lot of character development that takes place in those stories. As such, I would recommend reading those before reading this otherwise a lot of things might not make sense, most notably Sissi's relationship with the rest of the group.

_Four years after XANA's deletion_

_Early September_

_Reunion_

Yumi was driving from the airport with Sissi after having picked Aelita and Jeremy. Odd and Ulrich were going to meet with them downtown. When they went their separate ways for college, the six agreed that so long as they were able, they would get together around this time of year to celebrate the defeat of XANA and remember Franz Hopper's sacrifice. Yumi had just started her third year of college, and the others had just started their second. This was the fourth anniversary of XANA's defeat.

"So, guys, how do you like America?" Asked Sissi. Jeremy and Aelita had both earned full scholarships to MIT, which surprised no one. It was wonderful that they still had each other, but they weren't able to keep in touch with the rest of the group as much as anyone would have liked. The time difference between France and Massachusetts meant that most correspondence was limited to emails and other non-real-time forms of communication.

"It's a cool place, but honestly we normally don't have time to get out and enjoy it. We're just too busy with school. It's almost as bad as when we were fighting XANA, but at least we don't have the pressure of saving the world this time!" Jeremy answered. The blond boy had long since grown into a tall young man, but still looked every bit the skinny nerd. Even so, the way that a certain pretty, petite, pink-haired young woman was snuggled up to him in the back seat made it quite clear that he was _her_ skinny nerd, and neither one would have it any other way. He had one arm behind her and was running his fingers through the hair on the back of her head.

"I'll bet you two are excited to see Odd and Ulrich!" Aelita exclaimed.

"You bet! I've missed him so much!" Responded Sissi. Yumi just smiled. "I'm also looking forward to this restaurant that we're going to. It's supposed to be really good!"

"I've been there once before with my parents, it _is_ good!" Confirmed Jeremy.

The four friends continued making small talk until they reached where they were supposed to meet Odd and Ulrich at before walking downtown. They parked and got out and headed for the appointed meeting area.

"Hey guys!" The four turned and looked down the parking aisle to see a rather tall young man in a green coat with brown hair next to a very short, scrappy looking blond man who still had a penchant for purple, who was waving. Upon seeing each other, Sissi and Odd started running towards each other while everyone else just grinned at their exuberance while continuing to walk. They two met in the middle and it was a small miracle that they didn't knock each other over when they practically collided and wrapped each other in a tight embrace.

"Clearly you two missed each other!" Remarked Ulrich with a chuckle when he and the rest of the group caught up with the hugging couple. Odd had grown a couple inches since high school but was still very short. Sissi, on the other hand, had grown into an exceptionally tall amazon of a woman and towered over the short blond young man. They looked kinda funny next to each other, but they were clearly way too in love with each other to care one bit!

"Mm Hmm," Sissi murmured absently, rocking side to side slightly with her boyfriend.

Ulrich's gaze shifted from the couple over to Yumi and he smiled widely. He walked over to her, kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm glad to see you, I missed you," He whispered. She returned the embrace while smiling herself. He had grown quite a bit since they had started dating himself and was a couple inches taller than even Sissi. Yumi, on the other hand, ended up at average height for a woman and was several inches shorter than him.

"Well, I hate to cut the touching reunion short, but we should probably head out if we're going to make our reservation!" Jeremy said, and the two couples reluctantly pulled apart. The six walked to the restaurant, and they started going in.

"Hey Yumi, just wait for a second," Ulrich said quietly before walking in.

They waited for the rest of the group to walk in. "What's up, Ulrich?"

"Umm... I'm going to need to talk to you later about something, it's important." He seemed nervous.

"Ok, I need to talk to you about something too." She responded evenly.

Jeremy poked his head out the restaurant door. "Hey guys, come on! We're being seated."

"Alright, we're coming right now anyway." The two of them walked in and followed the hostess with their other four friends to their seats.

"How did it go with the data you guys got from the supercomputer? I never got around to asking, I hope it helped," Sissi asked the pair of geniuses.

"It really helped a lot. Both of our professors were astounded by what we were able to present. We both had to dumb down our actual findings to avoid too much attention," Aelita responded.

"Yeah, I almost forgot about that! I'm glad it went well! I'm really sorry I couldn't make it," Ulrich lamented.

"That's okay good buddy, I'm sure you'll make it if there's a next time!" Odd reassured him. "You two always were almost too smart for your own good! Like that time you almost got sent away to that smart kid school!"

"Wait, Jeremy was almost pulled out of Kadic?" Sissi asked.

"Yeah! The school shrink made him take a placement test, but that was the time XANA possessed a swarm of rats, so he was able to take it a second time after the return trip and fail on purpose!" Ulrich added.

"I was still stuck on Lyoko at the time, and if he had to go, I still would be!" Aelita beamed at Jeremy.

Their food arrived and they all ate enthusiastically while continuing their conversation.

"Aelita, I've been meaning to ask, if you don't mind, what was it like thinking that you were an artificial intelligence?" Sissi asked quietly.

"It's been so long, that I haven't thought about it much!" She thought for a moment. "I would have to say more than anything else would be insatiably curious! My memory was also almost perfect, which was nice, though I'm not sure if it's because my memory had been mostly emptied, or a side effect of being interred in a computer for so long. That's gone away, and I kinda miss that part. It would certainly make some of my classes easier!"

"Yeah, but even without it you're still a genius. You and Jeremy both! I don't understand anything you guys' do, but the tech world had better watch out!" Remarked Ulrich, and the two geniuses blushed slightly at the praise.

"How's nursing going for you, Sissi?" Aelita asked, deflecting the attention off her boyfriend and herself.

"I'm not going to be able to get into actual nursing school until next year, but I had good grades all last year, and this semester is going well too. I don't think I can thank you enough for teaching me how to study while we were still in high school!" Sissi turned towards Ulrich. "And thank _you_ for suggesting it. I think it's going to be a good fit!"

Ulrich grinned. "You always did have a good bedside manner when it counted."

"Now if only I could remember it," She said wryly. Even though she was grateful for everything the rest of the group had done to fill her in on all that was wiped away by the Returns to the Past, it always made her a little sad that she would never have the memories herself.

"So, what about you two? How's business and film school?" Aelita asked Ulrich and Odd.

"Business school is business school. Not very exciting, but I'm learning some useful stuff," Replied Ulrich.

"Film school's great! I've come a long way since _Break Break Breakdance!"_ Odd exclaimed, and Jeremy groaned.

Odd glanced around, noticing that everyone was done eating and stood up and spoke loudly to everyone. "Hello everyone, my name is Odd Della Robbia, and I've got a few things to say..." As he was holding everyone's attention, he spoke of a little bit of money that he inherited, but eventually he stood in front of his girlfriend Sissi and helped her up by the hand. He got down on one knee and asked that life-changing question:

"Will you marry me?"

Throughout the restaurant, you would be able to hear a pin drop as Sissi opened and closed her mouth several times as if trying to speak and failing. She shook her head in frustration as the confident grin that Odd was sporting started to fade. Sissi must have noticed, because her eyes shot open in desperation. She grabbed his arms and yanked him roughly to his feet then kissed him... hard! The restaurant burst into applause and cheering for the newly engaged couple. They broke the kiss and Sissi tried to speak a couple more times, but upon failing, nodded her head vigorously. An enormous grin sprouted on her face and got even bigger as Odd slid the ring on her finger, then they kissed again.

Congratulations were had, desserts were ordered for the couple, the bill was paid, and eventually it was time to go. The six friends made their way out of the restaurant and to wherever they were staying for the night, except for Ulrich and Yumi.

"What did you want to talk about Yumi?"

Yumi sat on a sidewalk bench and gestured for Ulrich to sit down. "I want you to know that I really am very happy to see you..." she began, and her face fell. "But after this weekend, I won't see you again for... I have no idea how long. I just can't keep doing this long-distance thing, and it's not even like we talk much anymore. You're always busy with school, or soccer practice, or work." Ulrich swallowed, completely shocked. "I know it's not your fault, and I hope you won't have any hard feeling towards me, because I certainly don't have any towards you."

Ulrich looked like he was about to cry. "Is there anything I can do?"

Yumi sighed. "Do you think that we'd be able to see each other more than twice this next year?" Ulrich just looked away towards the ground. "Then not really."

His bottom jaw quivered a little, but he managed to blink back his tears. "So that's it then? We're done?"

"The years we had together before you left for school were wonderful, so please don't think that they didn't mean anything, because they did. I just... can't. Again, I'm sorry." Now it was Yumi's turn to blink away the tears.

Ulrich took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself. "Can we still be friends, like we were before? I'd rather have you in my life as that then to be gone entirely."

That caught Yumi off guard, she hadn't expected that. She thought for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, but I'm going to need some separation first."

Ulrich looked a little relieved. "Okay."

"Who knows what will happen, but don't wait for me... because I'm not waiting for you."

"I love you Yumi." Ulrich said softly.

"I know." Was her response. "Goodnight, and goodbye." She got up, put her hand on his shoulder briefly as she walked past him behind the bench, and left for home letting the tears she held back earlier fall as she walked away. It wasn't until she arrived that she remembered that he had wanted to talk to her about something. If they spoke again sometime, she thought that maybe she'd ask about it.

Sometime later, Ulrich got up and slowly meandered his way to his hotel room, where he fell on his bed and didn't sleep that night.


	2. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't know anything about the college experience in any European countries, and I am too busy (lazy) to look it up. As a result, I'm applying the American college experience to all the characters because that's what I have any exposure to. I didn't go to off to college myself so even then I'm still guessing on a lot of things.

_Early October_

_Memories_

It was Thursday afternoon a few weeks after the reunion, and Yumi was headed to the library for some between class studying. You'd think that being fluent in Japanese, and French, nearly fluent Italian, Latin, and as of last year English, you'd think that German would be a piece of cake... except it wasn't.

_Ding ding_

It was Aelita sending a message via Skype, they all had it on their phones now, since data rates were much cheaper than the international messaging and talking rates.

'Can we talk tonight?'

'Sure, what time?'

'9, your time?'

'Works'

It was unusual for either of the geniuses to try to talk in person, they normally corresponded with messaging or email because of the time difference. Yumi really hoped that this wasn't about Ulrich. She had made up her mind, and really didn't need anyone trying to convince her to change it. She'd already played '20 questions' with Sissi, and Hiroki was even worse. He just hissed _Baka_ * at her, went to his room and slammed the door.

Yumi came out of her reverie when she reached the library. She put the conversation with Aelita out of her mind for now as she walked inside.

After class, Yumi met up with Sissi to walk home. Since Sissi's father lived at Kadic, she was unable to simply live at home for college like Yumi could. Fortunately, Mr. Delmas was sympathetic enough to split the bills with her for an apartment near Yumi's parents, so the two girls walked home together often.

"Hi, Yumi!" Sissi greeted cheerfully, stealing a glance down at her still-new ring when they started walking.

"Hi, how was class?"

Sissi chuckled wryly. "This Intro to Pharmacological Concepts class is really kicking my butt! How about you? How's the newest language coming? Which one is it again? I can never keep track."

"You'd think by number six I would know how to learn languages by now, but this one's being difficult for some reason. It's German by the way."

Sissi laughed for real this time, then flashed Yumi a mischievous smirk. "Well that's ironic! I know someone who would be more than willing, and able, to help you out with that one."

Yumi groaned in irritation. "I'm not talking to him... not yet anyway. I'm okay with being friends again eventually, but for now I still need some separation."

"Suit yourself, go ahead and struggle." The taller girl teased.

"This is hard for me too, you know." Yumi looked at Sissi sadly, and her grin faded.

"I'm sorry. I'll stop."

"Thank you." Yumi took a breath to clear the air and change the subject. "I got a message from Aelita earlier, she asked if we could talk this evening. Want to join us? She's calling at nine."

Sissi sighed disappointedly. "I would love to, but I've got a paper to write. Tell her 'hi' for me, and Jeremy too if he's there! Speaking of that paper, I'm going to have to bail on sparring this week again. I'm sorry." As much as they could, the two girls tried to make a point of sparring on Saturdays in the Kadic gym. Sissi's father allowed them to use it when it wasn't otherwise being used. Unfortunately, their workload for class often had one or both having to bail.

"Will do, and I understand. I should probably spend more time on my German anyway!" The two girls made it to Sissi's apartment complex. They hugged each other, then went their separate ways.

It was 8:55, and Yumi had been at home doing more homework. Sometimes it seemed like that was all she did these days, so talking with Aelita and possibly Jeremy would certainly make for a very welcome distraction. In preparation, she plugged some headphones into her phone to make this conversation a little more private as Skype only played through the speakers normally.

_Ding ding_

'Ready?'

Yumi just called without messaging back. When Aelita answered, her and Jeremy's faces were about eye level with each other. She was still quite petite, and he was now almost as tall as Ulrich, so she must have been sitting on his lap. Yumi's heart ached with a little bit of jealousy of what they had with each other, but she did her best to put it out of her mind and just be happy for them.

"Hi Yumi!" Aelita greeted

"Hi guys," Yumi responded, "what's going on? And please tell me that this isn't about Ulrich."

"Things are going well, and we weren't even going to bring it up." Yumi closed her eyes and groaned realizing that she opened the can of worms herself! Aelita continued, "we understand that it's your decision and you need to do what you think is best for you. We're all just surprised, because we know how much you two love each other." Yumi felt another pang in her heart at Aelita using the present tense 'love.' She was much to articulate for that to have been a mistake. Yumi may not have responded to Ulrich's 'I love you' at the breakup verbally, but Aelita wasn't wrong in implying that Yumi still loved him. The distance just made it too hard to continue trying to pursue a relationship.

"Can we change the subject to whatever it is you wanted to talk about?" Yumi muttered crossly.

"Sure thing." Yumi mentally thanked Jeremy for being focused. "We actually wanted to talk about Sissi, you two have gotten really close over the last year, right?"

Yumi's face scrunched in confusion. "Yeah, I asked her if she wanted to come and talk tonight with us, but she had a paper to write."

"It's kind of a good thing she didn't come, actually. We don't want her hearing this yet." Yumi looked even more confused, but Jeremy continued anyway. "While we were going over the data we got from the Supercomputer when you all went to Lyoko last December, we discovered that while she's there it might be possible to remove the inhibitions from her amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex placed during the Return to the Past trips!"

Yumi liked Jeremy's company, but his tech speak could sometime get frustrating. "Umm, Aelita... translation please?"

Being one of the only people who could understand it, Aelita giggled at her boyfriend's technobabble. "It might be possible to restore the memories that she lost from the Return trips."

The confusion on Yumi's face was quickly replaced with wide eyed shock. "What! Shouldn't that be impossible!?"

"Not really," She continued. "It seems that the reason that our own memories are unaffected by the return trips isn't because it makes us remember. It's more like it doesn't make us forget. This is still somewhat theoretical, so it might not work at all."

"So, are you saying that instead making everyone's memories not happen in the first place, like damage and injuries, it instead blocks the memories of every person in the world? That seems like a roundabout way of doing it!" Yumi asked incredulously.

Jeremy shrugged, "we don't know why it works the way it does, this is just _how_ we think it does. We looked at the data from Sissi's scans and found what we think are blocks. Our own scans have traces of them, presumably from when Franz Hopper was originally programming Lyoko, but we were all young and have had a lot of memories since then." Yumi shook her head then pinched the bridge of her nose. "This theory also could explain why William dreamed about the stuff on the bridge even before he was scanned into the system. The inhibitors simply didn't work perfectly on him for some reason. I'll bet there's a lot of people who have deja vu dreams, but they'd think they're just dreams."

Yumi stopped pinching her nose and looked at the two. "So why are you coming to me with this and not Sissi if it's about her memories?"

Aelita answered this time. "A few reasons really. The first of which is that you're the one who dislikes turning the supercomputer on the most in general, and if you say you're against it we will drop the subject right here and now."

Yumi's head jerked back slightly and she blinked a few times. It was kinda flattering that her feelings mattered that much, but she shouldn't have been that surprised. She'd always been very close with both Einsteins. However, she really didn't think she should have any say if one of her other good friends should get her memories back when she already knew about everything hidden anyway. "I appreciate that, but whether she wants this or not is for her to decide, not me. Any other reasons?"

"Fair point, and there is." Jeremy took a breath. "We don't know if it's actually possible and we want to know if it's something that she'd actually be interested in having done. It's not like all her memories that are blocked are good ones, and hers specifically are going to be mostly bad memories of one disaster after another. Figuring out whether it's possible would take some time and effort, both of which are in short supply right now. The main reason for the secrecy though, is we don't want to get her hopes up if she decides that she does want them back, but it isn't possible after all."

Yumi groaned. "And you'd like me to try to pick at her to see if she'd be interested without giving it away, right?"

"You got it!" Jeremy replied, way too enthusiastically. "We were going to bring it up to you during the reunion, but with Odd's proposal and your guys' breakup, we decided to hold off and give you some space first."

Yumi appreciated that. Aelita continued on, "If she is interested, and we find out that it is possible, then we'll ask her openly. Figuring out if it's possible will take some effort, but I've got a feeling that actually pulling it off will be like the materialization program all over again." She sighed, remembering how much of a toll that took on Jeremy. Yumi was impressed they were both willing to go this far for Sissi. She was her friend too, and she'd gladly play her comparatively modest part.

"Count me in." Both Einsteins grinned widely. "You're going to have to give me some time to ask about it without raising suspicion."

"That's no problem," Aelita remarked, "we're both pretty swamped with homework now anyway. I'm not sure we'd even be able to start on it for at least a few weeks. Speaking of which, we've got to start heading to class. It's been wonderful talking and seeing you.

Yumi smiled fondly at the two. "It's been good seeing you two as well. I've got an early class tomorrow, so I'm headed to sleep. Goodnight"

"Night Yumi." They said in unison before giggling at each other. It was a little too much cute for Yumi to handle right now so she ended the call.

Later that night, after climbing into bed, Yumi struggled to get a certain tall, brown haired young man out of her head...

* _Baka_ roughly means idiot in Japanese.


	3. Sparring Practice

_Early November_

_Sparring Practice_

A month had passed since Aelita and Jeremy spoke to Yumi about Sissi's memories, and Yumi still hadn't found an opening to discreetly bring the topic up to her. you'd think that with the two of them walking home from class two to three times a week there would have been an opportunity, but so far, not really. Lyoko never came us, and it wasn't typical of Yumi to bring it up herself. This Saturday morning both girls finally were able to free up their afternoon enough to get together and spar for the first time in several weeks and Yumi wondered if it might come up while fighting. Her Pencak Silat training had really come in handy on quite a few occasions in the fight against XANA!

Yumi entered the gym to find Sissi already there in her sweats doing some stretches. "Morning Sissi!" She called out.

"Morning! It's been way too long since we've done this." Sissi responded, doing some shoulder rolls to loosen up. Sissi been doing martial arts for a few years less than Yumi, but still had quite a few years under her belt by now and her larger stature went a long way towards making up the slight difference in the girls' skill levels. In short, they were pretty evenly matched. In short order, they both finished warming up and squared off.

"Alright, let's see what you've got!" Yumi taunted playfully, and the two girls started exchanging kicks and strikes. They went easy at first, due to how long it had been since they'd last done this, but soon they were sweating and breathing heavy with exertion and having a blast. After several rounds of going back and forth with wins on both sides, Sissi adopted a posture that wasn't from Pencak Silat. Her left leg was forward and bent at the knee, her right arm was somewhat down and at her side, and her left was forward at shoulder height, palm facing the right side with fingers slightly curled. She gave Yumi a 'come and get it' smirk and after tilting her head slightly in curiosity, Yumi obliged. She attempted to deliver a punch, but Sissi stopped it by jamming her hand into the inside of Yumi's elbow. Sissi quickly stepped towards Yumi and wedged her hip under Yumi's midsection enough to toss her head over heels over it. Yumi hit the ground with a _thud_! As Sissi helped Yumi to her feet, she groaned, "What was that, judo?"

"No, it's Abrazare. It's medieval Italian unarmed fighting. It's not any more effective than Pencak Silat, but if you've never dealt with it before..." Sissi smirked again and raised her eyebrows teasingly

"Did you get that from Odd!?" Since he was going to school in Italy, it would make sense. Yumi had never heard of it.

"No, Ulrich emailed me some resources of the old European martial arts he used to look into after I found out my Lyoko form was a swashbuckler. I thought I'd be cool to actually know how to fight with my sword, not that I'll ever get to use it."

After a full month, Yumi had her opening. "Fighting on Lyoko was definitely a rush, but I wouldn't have called it fun."

"Yeah, the others always said that you were looking forward to the battle being done more than everyone else."

Yumi paused for a moment, thinking of how to redirect the conversation towards memories. "Yeah, to be honest, there's a lot of things that I'd rather forget. What about you? If given the chance, would you want the memories that got wiped from the Return trips back? Or do you think it's better this way?"

"I don't know. A lot of things sound really horrifying, and I'd rather not have those scary memories. There are other things that I wish I did remember, like the times that you guys have told me about when I helped out."

That wasn't helpful. Yumi knew that to push the issue might ruin her chance at discretion, but it had taken a month for the opportunity to come up in the first place and she wasn't waiting another one! "Well, out of curiosity, what if you did have the opportunity?" She asked again.

Sissi eyes her suspiciously. "Yumi, what's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm jus..."

"Yumi, don't lie to me," Sissi interrupted. "You almost never bring up things about Lyoko yourself, especially since your breakup."

Yumi was caught and she knew it, so she relayed the whole conversation with Jeremy and Aelita. Sissi took it well, except for the part about the secrecy.

"I'm glad that you guys were willing to look into this, but I'm kind of insulted that you all thought I couldn't handle a little letdown!" The taller girl really did look hurt.

"Sorry, Sissi."

"Anyway, I don't know if I want them back or not, so you can tell them that I didn't give you a clear indication. That's the truth after all."

Yumi shuddered. "It's not an easy decision. Like I said earlier, there are definitely some things I wish I could forget. Sometimes I still have nightmares about the digital sea."

"Yeah, most of the memories I would be getting would be without you guys too." She took a breath and grinned, seeming to be ready to drop the topic. "I'll spend some thinking about it, but that's enough of that for now. Let's just get some more sparring in, who knows when the next time we'll get the chance!"

Yumi snorted and returned the grin, "fair enough, let's go!"

Both the girls dropped back into fighting stances and started going at it again. They quickly were striking, kicking, and blocking vigorously once again, but after breaking away from each other for a moment, Sissi dropped back into that Abrazare stance. Yumi engaged with a bit more caution this time, but Sissi still managed to get to the outside of Yumi's arms. Sissi grabbed Yumi's wrist with one hand, and the other hand pushed on the back of Yumi's elbow. Sissi accidentally pushed just a little too hard and started to hyperextend Yumi's elbow.

"Ow ow, stopstopstopstop!" Yumi yelled out as her elbow was starting to really hurt.

Sissi let go immediately. "I'm so sorry, are you ok!"

Yumi flexed her elbow trying to work the ache out of it. "Yeah, I'm ok. That's really effective, but I think I'm done for now." The two girls started getting bundled up for outside, and Sissi put her ring back on as she removed it for sparring. "I know I changed the subject on you, but how does learning how to use a swashbuckling sword have to do with that Abrazare?" Yumi asked as they were about to walk out the door.

Sissi looked away sheepishly. "Umm... Ulrich and I still keep in touch with each other, and when I told him that we were still doing our sparring, he sent me some resources for it… recently. He knows where to find all sorts of cool stuff, I think he practices this stuff sometimes too... I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind. He's your friend, and honestly, he's mine too... I think..."

A small smile of relief sprouted on Sissi's face. "There's no question, he is."

Yumi sighed, "I know I've said it before, but it was just too hard with the distance. I don't know how you and Odd do it, it just seems so easy for you two."

Sissi's face soured for a moment, and then became downright angry. She drew back her hand and let it fly.

_SLAP_

Yumi's face was pushed to the side from the impact, and she absently touched her stinging cheek in bewilderment.

"How DARE you think this is any easier for us!" Sissi spat, punctuating each word. "Do you really want to know how we've stayed close enough for _this_ to happen!?" She held up her left hand to flash her engagement ring. Yumi just weakly nodded, still shocked that Sissi slapped her. Sissi took a breath to calm down, though she was clearly still agitated. "I'm sorry. It's just that it's a lot of work keeping things going between us, and we knew it was going to be. Before Odd left, we spent a lot of time talking about what we could do to try to keep things going between us, and what we could do to keep from drifting apart." Yumi was impressed. Her and Ulrich didn't do much more than say that they would call 'whenever they could.' Sissi continued, "We talk every opportunity we can, and if we can't during the week at all, we get up early on Saturday morning to reconnect with each other."

"How early do you mean?" Yumi asked.

Sissi smirked. "Early enough to require 'double strength, French press coffee!'" Knowing exactly what that reference meant, Yumi felt her mouth drop slightly agape, and Sissi clearly got some satisfaction from the other girl's amazement. "Getting up that early sucks, but it's worth it every time. Other times we'll just have each other on video chat while we're doing homework. We won't really talk at all, but being able to hear a pencil scratching, typing on a keyboard, or the occasional turning of a page coming from his side is sometimes just enough."

Yumi marveled at the dedication and forethought that Odd and Sissi put not only into each other, but their relationship itself. The proof that it was working was not only proudly displayed on Sissi's left hand, but also in the way she smiled every time she glanced at it, which was often. How to make things work while he way away at school was a conversation that Yumi and Ulrich never had. Yumi really wished they did... but now it was too late.

Yumi sighed. "That is a lot work, I didn't know. I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

Sissi sighed as well, then smiled weakly. "That's okay. Like you said, you didn't know. I think I overreacted too. i think i was also still a little irritated by the memories secret as well. still, I'm sorry... still friends?" she asked sort of timidly.

Yumi had been wrong and she knew it, so she couldn't be too mad at Sissi. "Yeah, still friends."

"Wanna get some lunch?" Sissi asked sheepishly.

Yumi smiled slightly, but earnestly. "Yeah, that sounds good."

On their way out, Yumi walked behind Sissi so she wouldn't see the troubled frown that made its way to Yumi's face. The words of everything her and Odd did to stay close echoed in her head. Yumi thought about calling and talking to Ulrich about it but quickly dismissed it. It wouldn't be fair to him at all for her to push him away just to call him back like a yo-yo. The damage had already been done. Yumi sighed again, she seemed to be doing a lot of that these days.


	4. Answers and Questions

_Late November_

_Answers and Questions_

It had been a few weeks since Yumi and Sissi talked about her memories, and they hadn't come up since. Neither had Lyoko or Ulrich for that matter, and Yumi was grateful for those. She never liked bringing up the battle much without good reason, and without Ulrich being mentioned, she felt like she was starting to be able to separate from him. Her conviction that he didn't deserve to be pushed away and pulled back at her whim held strong, so she proceeded with her attempts to move on.

It was early Wednesday afternoon, and Yumi was headed to class when she received a message from Sissi.

'Can you come to my place after class, I need to talk to you about a few things, some of it needs to be private.'

Wednesday wasn't one of the days they normally walked home together, so this was probably important. Yumi figured she wanted to talk about her memories which would explain the privacy, but she was completely clueless on what else she wanted to talk about. Still, since she was caught up on her homework and she didn't have anything else to do before dinner at home, a quick visit to see her friend might be nice.

'Sure, be there around 430. Parents are expecting me for dinner at 6.'

'No problem won't take long.' Sissi replied. Yumi put her phone away and walked into her lecture hall.

Later that afternoon, she arrived at Sissi's. They greeted each other, then both flopped on the couch.

"So, what's going on?" Yumi asked.

"A few things actually." Sissi seemed very excited about something. "First, the Della Robbia's are flying me down to Italy to spend winter break with them and Odd!"

Yumi turned her whole body straight towards her friend. "Are you serious!? That's amazing! You haven't met his family yet, have you?"

"I met his parents once, but that was a long time ago and way before we were dating... or could even stand each other for that matter!" She giggled as she sometimes did when remembering how much her and Odd used to dislike each other. After they started dating, she always found their old enmity humorous. "Anyway, here." She held out a key. This is to my apartment. My father has one too, but I figure I can trust you in case something happens.

Yumi was rather surprised. "Like what?"

Sissi snorted. "I don't know! But it makes me feel better that you have it!"

Yumi chuckled in return. "Ok, fair enough!" She took a minute to put the key on her key ring. "Anything else?"

"Yeah..." Sissi said slowly while looking down, as if suddenly shy about something. "I want my memories back."

"Are you sure? There's a lot of nightmare material."

Sissi grinned slightly in appreciation of Yumi's concern. She still didn't meet her gaze, but she responded with certainty. "Yes. There's one memory that I'd do just about anything to have back, and I think it'll make all the bad memories worth it." She looked back up at Yumi. "Any other good memories I get back are just a bonus. I've talked about the whole thing with Odd and he's very supportive, and he knows that I'll probably be relying on him a lot to sort it all out once it comes back."

Yumi figured that the memory must be something personal that happened between Sissi and Odd, so she didn't pry. "Ok, I'll let Jeremy and Aelita know." She pulled out her phone and sent a Skype message to Aelita asking if she would be able to talk later, which was met with an affirmative. "Ok, I'm talking to Aelita tonight after dinner."

Sissi smiled fully. "Ok, thanks Yumi. I've got one more thing to ask you."

"What's that?"

Sissi's smile took on even more excitement than when telling Yumi about her trip. "Would you be my maid of honor?"

Yumi was speechless, but after a few seconds Yumi regained her composure. "I'm honored, and please don't think otherwise, but I was sure you'd ask Aelita."

Sissi shrugged. "I already talked to her about it to make sure that she wouldn't be hurt. She was very supportive and agreed with the decision. I love Aelita. She is so sweet, but since her and Jeremy went to America, I'm sad to say that we're not as close as we were at Kadic. We've been able to keep in touch well enough, but it's not the same as it used to be. I'd guess it's the same for you too. In the last year, you and I have gotten much closer than we were even in high school. After Odd, you're by best friend and I trust you."

Yumi sadly agreed that she'd also drifted from Aelita a little but having gotten reassurance that Aelita was okay with the choice she returned Sissi's excited grin. "Sissi, I would be proud to be your maid of honor!" At first Sissi looked delighted, but suddenly, it looked like Sissi remembered something and she started chewing her bottom lip nervously. "What's wrong?"

"I just remembered something that you probably should know..." Yumi looked back at Sissi, catching her nervousness. "Ulrich's the best man..." Sissi revealed.

Yumi breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm not surprised, but I don't think you have to worry about that. It's a long way off and I'm sure that everything on that end will be sorted out by the wedding. You're still waiting until after college to get married, right?"

Sissi's excitement returned in full. "Yeah, I don't think I could live apart from my _husband_ for that long!" She looked like she was about to burst with excitement and let out a squeal. "It's really HAPPENING!"

Yumi was extremely excited for her friend, and it showed on her face as well, but it was about time for her head home. The two girls hugged and said their goodbyes, and Yumi left.

Upon returning home, Yumi disclosed the news of her new status as maid of honor to her parents. They were very happy for her and expressed their support of her friend. After dinner, Yumi headed up to her room to call Aelita. She plugged her headphones in for a little extra privacy, then checked and saw that Aelita was currently logged into Skype.

'You there?' She messaged, and a moment later, her phone started buzzing with Aelita's incoming call.

"Hi Yumi." The small pinkette greeted as her image popped up on the phone screen.

"Hi Aelita!" Yumi was still excited about the maid of honor request, and it must have showed.

"You look pretty happy! If I had to guess, I'd say that you talked to Sissi earlier." Aelita always was quite perceptive.

"Yeah, I did! At first I was surprised that she didn't ask you to be her maid of honor."

"If she had, I would have told her to seriously consider asking you. I'm sad that I'm not there with you two, but I'm really happy that you're still there for each other. I will be standing up in the wedding party, and so is Jeremy. I'm happy with that." Sissi's reassurance that Aelita was ok with her picking Yumi was good but hearing it directly from Aelita dispelled the possibility of any lingering doubts resurfacing.

"That's all exciting, but that's not why I called," Yumi said, changing the subject.

"Alright, so what did you want to talk about?"

"Sissi wants her memories back." Aelita slowly nodded. "She also figured out that we were hiding something, and I couldn't lie to her when she called me out on it. She was a kinda hurt that we didn't just ask her directly, and I think that's pretty understandable."

Aelita frowned. "I guess that was a bad idea, wasn't it? I'll let Jeremy know, but I still don't think we'll be able to start on it for a couple weeks.

"That's fine. I told her it would take a while," Yumi replied. Aelita sighed. It seemed like something else had been bothering her throughout the entire conversation. "Is everything ok?" Yumi asked the pinkette.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, though she wasn't very convincing.

"Aelita," Yumi began tenderly, "if there's something wrong, you can always talk to me."

Aelita at first looked away as if unsure whether or not she wanted to continue, but eventually she decided that she needed to talk. "Jeremy cancelled date night again for this Friday. He's got a lot of homework."

"What do you mean 'again?'" Yumi inquired.

"This is the second one in a row," she absently replied.

"He did WHAT!" Yumi exclaimed, feeling angry at Jeremy, and protective of Aelita.

Aelita snapped out of her little funk upon Yumi's outburst and her eyes shot open. "Oh!" She looked like she just realized something. "Don't be too upset with Jeremy, I've cancelled plenty of date nights too," she pleaded on Jeremy's behalf. "It not just him, we're both just so swamped with schoolwork. We're in the first semester of our second year at college and we're both taking 20 credits of junior and senior level classes! At this rate we'll have our bachelor's degrees before we're twenty!" She looked away for a second and softly added, "before Jeremy is twenty anyway."

Yumi's mouth dropped open and her anger at Jeremy subsided. She figured their geniuses' class loads would be pretty hefty, but that was downright grueling! When she recovered, she asked, "don't you two have any classes together?"

Aelita sighed. "Unfortunately, no. We stupidly spent all the classes that were common to our curriculums last year instead of spacing them through the years."

Yumi leered concernedly towards the phone. "Are you two... in trouble... relationally?"

"Oh no, it's not that severe." Aelita waved her hands in front of her a little for emphasis. "Though I do think we're in a bit of a slump." She admitted. "We'll be fine, Jeremy means the world to me, and I know he feels the same. It's just been hard finding time for each other lately."

Yumi felt a little relief. After everything they'd been through to be together, there were no two people that she knew of that deserved to be happy with each other more than they did. She still felt bad about their slump and hoped they'd figure something out. There was another comment of Aelita's that was bothering her too. "If you don't mind me asking, what did you mean when you said, 'before Jeremy is twenty?' You're the same age."

Aelita sighed again. "Biologically yes, but I was born almost ten years before you were. It's not that I don't like how my life is turning out, and being with Jeremy is wonderful, but I've been thinking a lot about my old life lately. We know what happened to my dad, but what about the rest of my family? For all I know, my mother is still out there somewhere. Maybe she got remarried and I've got half brothers or sisters, or aunts and uncles. I guess there's just so much of my past that's still a mystery, and I really wish I knew more."

Yumi felt bad for her. Her own family meant so much to her, and she couldn't even imagine not knowing anything about them. "Have you talked to Jeremy about this?"

Aelita shook her head. "No, he's busy enough with school, and now we've got Sissi's memories to work on, like we said we would. You know him, he'd most likely pour everything into finding out as much as he could, and he doesn't need that right now."

Aelita was right. Jeremy would stay up all night, every night, to try to find the answers. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he put his health at risk for her. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Just know that you can always talk to me, okay?"

"I know. Thanks, Yumi." She smiled at Yumi. "I've got to head out for class, but I'm glad we talked. I do feel a little better. Bye, Yumi!"

"Bye!" Yumi hung up. She was still bothered by Aelita and Jeremy's slump, because that's how the decline with her and Ulrich started. She thought for a while about it and eventually realized that she knew a few things now that she didn't know then. She saw that Jeremy was also logged into skype, so she sent him a message.

'Got a few minutes to talk?'

'I've got maybe a half hour, then I've got to head to class,' he responded.

Yumi figured that should be enough time. She hit the 'call' button and after a few seconds Jeremy's face came into view. "Hi Yumi, is something wrong?" He looked a little worried.

Yumi thought for a second before responding. "A little bit… I heard about date night." Jeremy's face fell like a stone before looking back up, trying to explain himself very quickly.

"I didn't want to cancel…"

"Jeremy." Yumi attempted to interrupt him.

"I had this picnic in the park planned out and everything!"

"Jeremy!" Yumi tried being more forceful, to no avail.

"I've just got too much going on with all the classwork, and if I lose my scholarship then I'll have to leave…"

"HEY EINSTEIN!" Yumi yelled. That seemed to get his attention.

"Yumi, could you keep it down," her mother called from downstairs.

"Sorry mom!" she called out back. She then smiled reassuringly at Jeremy. "I didn't call to yell at you. I called because I'm your friend and I'd like to help if I can."

Jeremy took a breath to calm down. "Thanks, Yumi. I'll bet Aelita is mad at me though, I wouldn't blame her."

"Jeremy, Aelita is not mad at you. She's got the same workload that you do so she understands, but she is sad about it and she misses you. You really do mean the world to her."

"She means everything to me too," he responded. He was visibly unhappy that him having to cancel made his girlfriend sad.

"It seems like date night isn't working very well for you two, is it?"

He looked away from the screen. "No, it isn't. At first, we tried to make sure to go out every other Friday, but the in last few months we seem to cancel more often than not."

"Then maybe the whole date night idea isn't for you two at all. I was talking to Sissi a few weeks ago about what her and Odd do to stay close with each other, and let's face it, it's working!"

Jeremy nodded, looking back up. "That's true."

Yumi smirked. "And none of it is date night! I've got a few ideas for you based on what they do."

Jeremy folded his hands in front of him. "I'm listening…"


	5. Advice Taken to Heart

_Interlude chapter_

_Late November_

_Advice Taken to Heart_

It was early Friday afternoon and Aelita had just gotten back to her dorm from class. Being an honors student had its perks, and one of those was not having a roommate, though she did share a common area. It had a living space with a couch, a small dining area, and a kitchenette. Being Friday night, no one else was here and Aelita dropped her backpack at her desk, then sadly looked at her calendar. She picked up a pen and with a heavy heart slowly crossed 'date night' off today's square. She glanced at the picture of her and Jeremy she kept on her desk and sighed with heart ache. Despite living only ten minute's walk from one another, it had been a week since they'd seen each other and probably a month or more since they'd spent any meaningful time together. Since she didn't have anything else to do tonight, she decided she might as well start on her homework when her phone started to ring. She was surprised to see that it was Jeremy!

She hit 'accept.' "Hi, Jeremy, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine, I... just wanted to ask you something." He sounded a little nervous.

"Sure, go ahead."

She heard him take a breath before starting. "I was wondering... would you like to do our homework together?"

Aelita was confused. "But we don't have any classes together."

"That's true, but we can still do our own homework, just... together. I know it's not romantic or fun, but at least we'll be with each other!" Aelita's mouth dropped open slightly at how stupid they had to be to have never thought of that before! Seemingly discouraged by her lack of response, he added, "I mean... if you don't want to, I understand."

That got her attention again. Her mood lifted almost immediately, and she grinned. "Yes, Jeremy. I'd like that, a lot."

"So, see you in ten to fifteen minutes then?" Jeremy asked excitedly, the discouragement gone.

"I'm looking forward to it!" Aelita returned his excitement.

About fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door. She opened it expecting to find her favorite nerd and was not disappointed! He was heavily encumbered with a couple of backpacks and a laptop bag, how his skinny frame was able to carry all that was a mystery. As soon as he dropped them off at the common room dining room table they hugged tightly. Upon breaking the hug, they kissed briefly.

Jeremy started unpacking his classwork, and Aelita went to grab her own homework from her room.

"I'm really happy to see you," Jeremy told her when she got back.

"So am I." Aelita replied, sitting down across from him.

"Can I ask you something before we get started."

"Absolutely." If it was anything like the last thing he asked her, she was looking forward to it!

"Would... would you want to go to the coffee shop down the road tomorrow morning? I know you don't drink coffee, but their hot chocolate is really good, and they've got a decent tea selection."

"I'd love to, but I'm meeting up with some classmates for a group project around nine." Aelita appreciated the thought. She was sad about having to decline, but also noticed that Jeremy didn't seem done yet.

"I was thinking more when opened at six. We're both morning people after all." He asked optimistically.

Aelita grinned excitedly and grabbed her boyfriend's hands, practically glowing. "I would love to!" Just then, a thought popped into her head and she narrowed her eyes in playful suspicion. "Jeremy, have you talked to Yumi in the last couple of days?"

He smiled sheepishly and looked away slightly. "Last Wednesday..." he replied.

Still teasing, Aelita further pried, "and when did you plan on telling me?"

"If you asked where the ideas came from, or tomorrow morning. Whichever came first." Jeremy looked back at Aelita and smiled widely. They both knew that no matter how far they might be from Yumi, she would always be that caring big sister to them, and they were grateful. "But if tomorrow morning is going to happen at all, I'll need to get this done tonight!" He pulled one hand from Aelita's and pointed to his pile of class stuff, and the two set to doing their respective work.

As they worked in relative silence, they both were strongly reminded of the times when Jeremy was working on Aelita's materialization program and simply enjoyed knowing the other was there. Neither one of them had given that time much thought in quite a while. Though they had hated being separated from each other by the incalculable distance, the time they were able to spend 'together' was amazing. This evening though, they had the enjoyment of one another's company, but completely without the frustration of distance. In short, though the evening wasn't fun or romantic, to them it was almost... perfect.

For the next few hours they continued plugging away at their work. Aelita's dorm mates arrived and went to bed themselves and the couple was mostly ignored, though they did get a few good-natured teases about 'nerd love.' Eventually, it got late, and Jeremy and Aelita made excellent progress on their work. Both felt that this could be a turning point away from the slump in their relationship. As Jeremy packed up his things and started getting ready to leave, Aelita felt her heart constricting in her chest as he walked away from the table. She got up and hurried over to wrap her arms tightly around him from behind and buried her face in the back of his shirt. Jeremy put his arms over hers for a minute before turning around to face her and wrapping his own arms around her.

Before she could stop the words from tumbling out, she quietly asked, "can you stay tonight?" Aelita felt Jeremy stiffen as her cheeks start to burn. They still had the tendency to be a little shy sometimes. This was one of those times, but Aelita had already let it out so she pressed on. "We're going to the coffee shop together early tomorrow anyway." He started to push her away and she worried that she went too far, but after they separated a little, he tilted her head up gently by her chin. He was also blushing, but to her relief he was also looking at her tenderly. He leaned down and kissed her softly.

"Yes Aelita, I'll stay." The corners of his mouth turned down for a second as he realized something. "I didn't bring pajamas, or a toothbrush..."

Aelita giggled excitedly and squeezed him tightly around the middle again. "We'll figure something out!"

As it turned out, Jeremy was somehow still skinny enough to fit into a pair of Aelita's gym shorts, and mouthwash alone worked well enough for one night. As they climbed into bed, both blushing a furious shade of red, they cuddled up close. Before going to sleep though, Aelita had another question, "Jeremy?"

"Yes, Aelita?"

"Did Yumi have any other ideas? For us I mean?"

"Just one," he replied evenly. "She suggested that maybe we think about only taking a normal workload of classes, that way we won't be so swamped all the time."

"That's kind of a big deal..."

"I know. How about we talk about it tomorrow morning. That's when I was planning on bringing it up anyway."

"Mm, ok. I think we're going to have to thank her sometime for the ideas." She sounded like she was getting sleepy.

"Agreed."

Aelita nestled in closer and murmured, "goodnight Jeremy, I love you."

"I love you too Aelita, goodnight."

He kissed the top of her head, and with both looking forward to the coffee shop date in the morning, the two drifted off to sleep. They felt closer to each other than they had in a long time and were very grateful to Yumi for being a good friend and looking out for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bit of shameless JeremyxAelita fluff because it's been far too long since I'd written about my favorite pairing. Some content will have impact on side story drama though, and Yumi would obviously be very happy to know that her suggestions to Jeremy worked.


	6. Back in Touch

_Late December_

_Back in Touch_

It was another Friday evening and Yumi was in her room trying to do her homework, but her parents were having another one of their arguments. It had been a long time since it had gotten this bad, but after about two hours of listening to them yell at each other, she'd had enough. She packed up her stuff and knocked on Hiroki's door.

He opened the door looking just as irritated as she felt. "Hey, sis."

"Let's get out of here. Do you know if Johnny is busy? Maybe you can spend the night there."

"I don't think so, what about mom and dad? And where are you gonna go? You can't go to Kadic and stay with Aelita anymore."

Yumi appreciated his concern for her. He'd really matured a lot in the last couple years. "We're not asking to go; we are telling them we're going. Don't worry about mom and dad being mad at you, I'll take the blame for it as long as you promise to get your homework done. I'll probably stay with Sissi tonight."

The two of them packed overnight bags and headed out. Fortunately for them, Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama were too wrapped up in their argument with each other to object to the two siblings leaving.

Shortly after leaving the house, they parted ways and Yumi called Sissi. "Hi Yumi, what's going on?" She inquired after answering.

"I'm sorry to bug you, but my parents are fighting again, and it's bad this time. I was hoping that I could possibly stay at your place tonight, I need some peace. I could really use to vent a little too... sorry." She felt bad about it, but Sissi had been Yumi's go-to person for a while when she needed to talk through things.

"I'm sorry Yumi, but I'm going to be getting on a plane in eight minutes!" Yumi groaned. In her frustration with her parents, she had forgotten that Sissi was headed to the Della Robbia's in Italy today. "I don't mind if you stay at my place, you have a key after all. Feel free to help yourself to any food that's there too, but you're going to have to find someone else to vent to."

"Thanks, Sissi. I guess I'll call Aelita _."_ There was no answer on the line. "Sissi?"

"Sorry Yumi! I was messaging Odd. What did you say?"

Yumi was starting to get frustrated. "I said that I'll try calling Aelita." Silence on the line again. "SISSI!"

"I heard, sorry. You know who you really should call?" Sissi asked.

Stumped, Yumi answered, "I don't know, who?"

"Ulrich..."

Yumi stopped walking, hardly believing what she heard. "No. Wanting to be friends again or not, I haven't talked to him in months. Calling him for the first time just to vent isn't fair to him at all!"

It was Sissi's turn to be frustrated. "Oh, come on Yumi! He understands you, he can relate to family issues, and what's more, he cares about you and respects you!"

"Maybe he used to, but I'm the one that broke his heart, remember!"

There was silence on the line for another second before Sissi spoke again, a bit more softly this time. "I Promise I'm not trying to set you two back up, but you know when I said that him and I keep in touch?"

"Yeah."

"He asks about you, often, just to make sure you're doing ok. Like I said, he still cares about you a lot. The friendship you two had is still there, you just need to reach out and talk to him and I know he'll be glad to be there for you."

Yumi sighed. That did sound like Ulrich. "Ok, but I'm going to try Aelita first, and if she doesn't answer _then_ I'll try Ulrich."

"Ok, sounds good. I've got to go, bye Yumi!"

After hanging up, Sissi looked at her message history with Odd in smug satisfaction.

_Could you ask Ulrich if he's available to talk? I'll explain later._

_He is._

_Good! See you soon Sweetheart, love you!_

_Love you too!_

Now she only had one more message to send.

Halfway around the world Aelita's phone buzzed. She was surprised to see it was from Sissi, but even more surprised at the contents of the message!

_Yumi's going to try to get hold of you today sometime. DON'T answer it! Trust me, this is important, and I'll explain later. Relay the message to Jeremy, but she probably won't try calling him._

Aelita was confused, but she shrugged and showed the message to Jeremy as they were eating lunch together. He was equally confused. Sure enough, about a minute later, Yumi's name flashed on her phone. Aelita ignored it as instructed but couldn't help feeling a little guilty for obviously going behind Yumi's back. Sissi's explanation had better be good!

When Aelita didn't answer, Yumi waited until she was at Sissi's apartment to call Ulrich. She flopped down on the couch and pulled her phone back out. Scrolling down to Ulrich's name, her heart began to pound. As her finger hovered over the call button, she desperately hoped that this wasn't a mistake before closing her eyes and slowly pressing down. As it rang, she wasn't sure if she wanted him to answer or not.

"Yumi?" She winced as Ulrich's voice rang in her ear with obvious surprise.

"Hi Ulrich," she replied sheepishly.

"What's going on, is everything ok?" The surprise in his voice gave way to worry.

Yumi sighed. "I know this isn't fair to call you just to vent, but I needed someone to talk to. Sissi's on a plane and Aelita isn't answering." She spoke quietly, and she felt more guilty about calling with every word.

"Are your parents fighting again?" He asked evenly, and Yumi's mouth fell open. She had all but forgotten just how well he knew her.

"Yeah..."

"It's gonna be all right, unless things have changed a lot since I've been around, they do love each other, just loudly sometimes." He stated reassuringly.

Yumi sighed again. "I know, it's just hard to listen to."

"I understand." Sissi was right, he could relate. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you? You're not at home, I'd hear your parents in the background." Yumi could tell that he changed the subject on purpose to get her mind on other things. she appreciated it.

"Sissi gave me a spare key to her apartment a couple weeks ago for when she went to the Della Robbia's, and she's on a plane headed there now. She told me I could stay here for the night."

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah. She's a good friend. You know that I'm her maid of honor, right?"

"Yeah, I heard that from Odd. Congratulations! I guess you've probably heard that I'm the best man."

Yumi hesitated before replying. "Yeah... is that going to be awkward?" The confidence she showed Sissi about the subject was gone.

"No, we're just good friends again, right?" Ulrich responded without missing a beat, much to Yumi's relief.

For the next few hours, the two went on about anything and everything they could think of. Yumi vented about her parents, and Ulrich complained about his in return. They talked about the antics of some friends Ulrich had made in Germany, and Yumi playfully accused him of giving Sissi an unfair advantage in sparring with the Abrazare she had been using more and more of. Inevitably, classes came up and as Sissi predicted months ago, Ulrich was able to help Yumi with some of her German pronunciation and homework. Yumi attempted to help Ulrich with some of his work too, but she had no clue about business, so they merely laughed about her complete ineptitude on the subject. Eventually it started getting late and their conversation had to come to a close.

"I was really nice talking to you again, Yumi."

"Yeah, it really was. Thanks for letting me vent." Ulrich paused as if trying to decide whether or not to say something. "Ulrich?"

"Yeah, I'm here." He took a breath before continuing, having seemed to make up his mind. "You can always talk to me, ok? I meant it when I told you I'd rather be friends than nothing at all, and I still care about you and how you're doing. After everything we've been through, I'm sure I always will."

Yumi was glad that he couldn't see her because she started to get misty eyed at his fierce loyalty. She wasn't sure she deserved it, but she was grateful anyway. "Thanks, Ulrich," she replied quietly. "You know, you can... you can call me too sometimes... if you want."

She could practically hear the smile in his response. "I think I'll do that. Goodnight Yumi."

"Goodnight." Then he hung up.

Yumi felt a tremendous amount of relief as she was getting ready for bed. It was a little awkward at times, but the conversation proved that she could be friends with Ulrich again. She hadn't realized how much she missed just talking to him and his willingness to keep in touch as just friends made her happy.

Sissi's phone buzzed on the end table next to the couch where her and Odd were happily cuddled together watching a movie. Odd grabbed it and handed it to her. Looking at the message, Sissi grinned widely and had Odd pause the movie.

_Talked to Ulrich. I admit it, you were right. He is still a good friend._

She showed it to Odd, who beamed at his fiancée and kissed her cheek. "Nice work sweetheart." She took a screenshot and sent it with a message before snuggling closer to Odd, who turned the movie back on.

Aelita's phone buzzed, and she wasn't surprised to see that it was Sissi again. She shared the view of her phone with Jeremy, with whom she was with studying and opened the message.

_Thanks for ignoring Yumi's call. I appreciate it. She does too, even if she doesn't know it! :p_

The couple read the screenshot and the message and neither one of them liked the subterfuge involved. However, they also agreed that they didn't know everything that was going on and that Ulrich and Yumi's friendship was a good enough cause for it to be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There always was a devious streak to Sissi in the show, and I had a lot of fun bringing it back in a positive way!


	7. The Meeting

_Late February_

_The Meeting_

It had been a couple months since Yumi first called Ulrich again. During winter break they talked again a few more times, and when classes started back up, they continued talking about once a week, typically on Friday evenings. Their friendship seemed to have been fully rekindled. Both of them had their turns being the one to call the other, and they seemed to be happy with how their relationship as friends was going.

It was Thursday during lunch, and Yumi was eating and studying at the school cafeteria. She was alone at the table, which was typical and fine with her.

"Mind if I sit here?" Asked a man's voice, interrupting her concentration. Yumi looked up to see a guy she'd seen around campus a couple times before. It looked like he was about as tall as Sissi, with very short dark hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in mostly blacks and greys, had a couple ear piercings, and had a bit of a rebellious look to him.

"Go ahead." She absently gestured to an open seat and went back to her studying.

"I'm Jacques, I've seen you around the school a few times, and I just thought I'd say 'hello!'" He stated while putting his food tray down and taking a seat.

"I'm Yumi," she responded without looking up. She was being short with him and she knew it, but she didn't quite know why she felt she had to be.

"Well... it's nice to meet you Yumi." She looked up at him again and figured out why she felt the need to be short with him. He reminded her of William and the annoying Casanova routine he would always try with her that quickly got old. However, this guy wasn't William, and it seemed like he was only trying to be friendly. She forced a smile to her face.

"I'm Yumi, and I'm sorry for being rude."

"That's ok. I guess I was interrupting your study time after all." He flashed her a smile.

Despite his punkish appearance, he was actually pretty charming, and the two hit it off reasonably well. He was in his last year as a history major and unlike Yumi, he lived in a student apartment on campus. The two chatted for about a half hour.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Jacques, but I've got class now." Yumi said, as she packed up her books and food tray.

"Likewise!" He smiled at her. "Hey Yumi, would you be interested in going to dinner with me tomorrow?"

Yumi was slightly taken aback. "A-Are you asking me out on a date?"

His smile took on a slightly flirtatious appearance. "I suppose I am."

Regaining her composure, Yumi smiled slightly. "Umm, sure."

"There's a place not too far from here we could walk to, so want to meet here at six?"

Yumi was now grinning fully. Having gotten to know him a little bit, she now found his interest in her kinda flattering. "That sounds good. I've really got to go right now, but I'll see you tomorrow!"

Later after class, Yumi met up with Sissi on the way home.

"Someone's in a good mood!" Sissi commented.

"Yeah, I guess so." Yumi was still happy from earlier.

Sissi leered at Yumi slyly. "Soooooo... aren't you going to share?"

"If you must know, I got asked to go on a date tomorrow." Yumi said with a smile.

Sissi's head jerked back in surprise. "Really?"

"Yep!"

"Aaaand you said yes?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Well, congratulations." While she sounded sincere, she also didn't sound as excited for Yumi as she could have been. "You know you're going to have to talk to Ulrich, right?"

Yumi rolled her eyes in frustration, her good mood dissolving almost instantly. "Are you serious!?"

Sissi stopped walking and put her hands up in a gesture attempting to calm the other girl. "Just hear me out, ok?" There was a tense pause, then Yumi nodded slowly. "I know that you two have been talking again, and a lot from what he's indicated. If you're going to date other people, you might want to set some boundaries. I'm pretty sure that most guys wouldn't be happy with you spending as much time talking to your ex-boyfriend of four years as seem to."

Yumi mentally cringed at hearing Ulrich referred to as 'ex-boyfriend.' While it was accurate, in her mind he simply wasn't her boyfriend anymore and now he was just a friend. Relabeling him with something as negative sounding as ex-boyfriend felt wrong, but she ignored it for now. More importantly, she felt like she was getting mixed signals from Sissi now and that was frustrating. "So, a couple months ago you convince me to get back in touch with Ulrich, and now you're trying to tell to not talk to him!?" She snapped.

"I'm not telling you to stop talking to him. I think it's great that you're still friends, if I didn't, I wouldn't have suggested that you call him!" Sissi took a breath to calm herself as she had been getting agitated too. "If you're serious about being 'just friends,' and intend to date other people, than you need to be just that. Not friends with romantic tension, not that somewhere between that you were before you started dating, just... friends. I know both of you very well, and I know how easy you two fall into practically being a couple without calling it that! Without clear boundaries things are probably going to get... messy... and possibly ruin things you try to start with someone else. That's all."

She did have a point, and the romantic tension and jealousy between her and Ulrich used to cause the two of them a lot of trouble. Her frustration with Sissi subsided, but she was still frustrated in general. "Ok, I see your point. I'll see if he can talk tonight." She was very much not looking forward to it.

"Good."

The two girls started walking again and spend the rest of the trip in silence. Yumi had a lot on her mind, and Sissi was willing to let her think it out. The two girls eventually parted and Yumi arrived at home.

After dinner she messaged Ulrich asking if he was available to talk, to which he responded by just calling her. "Hi Yumi, what's going on?"

"Well... I've got something to tell you that I think you should know..."

"Umm... is everything ok? Are _you_ ok!?" Ulrich sounded like he was starting to get worried.

"Everything's ok..." Yumi felt her pulse quicken as she readied herself to deliver the news. "I've got a date tomorrow evening." She braced herself for the anticipated jealous outburst, but it never came. Instead came silence, followed by something she didn't expect...

"Good luck, I hope you have a good time." He was clearly trying to hide the sadness in his voice, but Yumi knew him too well for that. Still, she was quite surprised.

"Umm... thanks. I figured it'd probably be better if you heard it from me directly, rather than down the chain. I really didn't expect you to take it this well." For the next minute they sat in awkward silence.

"Yumi, can I be completely honest with you?"

Yumi hesitated before answering, afraid of what he wanted to say. "Sure, go ahead."

"You're a smart and beautiful young woman. I know that better than anyone, but someone else was going to notice eventually. Part of me hoped that it wouldn't ever happen, but I know that would have been unrealistic and selfish." Ulrich sighed. "I wish it was me taking you on that date, but since you've made it pretty clear that as long as we're in different countries, _us_ isn't going to be a thing anymore. I still want to be in your life though, and I want you to be in mine, so I think the best thing I can do is be a good supportive friend." He paused for a moment. "So good luck Yumi, I hope you have a good time."

Yumi looked down feeling very humbled and smiled to herself. He'd clearly done a lot of thinking since they broke up. "Thanks Ulrich. You _are_ a good friend, and you always were."

"Thanks. I'm not ready to put myself out there yet, but when I do, I'm sure I'll find someone myself eventually."

Yumi smiled slightly. "I'm sure you will. You're a nice guy and a good man. You're going to make someone very happy someday." _But not me_. The thought came without warning, or welcome. She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best to push it to the back of her mind, reminding herself that she was moving on. After opening them back up she looked at the clock and groaned. "I've got to get some homework done tonight, otherwise I'll have to cancel sparring with Sissi again and do it Saturday morning. Goodnight Ulrich."

"Goodnight Yumi." As they hung up, Ulrich wiped away the tears that had started falling when Yumi told him about the date. He was grateful that they had spoken with audio only.

He glanced at his phone and saw his Skype contacts list. His eyes stopped at a particular name that was currently online. He completely skipped the customary message asking if she was available to talk and just hit call.

After a few seconds Sissi's face showed up on his phone screen. "Ulrich? What's goi..." she paused, then frowned I concern for her friend as she saw the redness in his eyes and fresh tears on his cheeks that he wasn't even trying to hide. "You just talked to Yumi, didn't you?"

He looked down weakly nodded. "I know that I probably have no right to ask you this, but I don't know who else to talk to. You're the only one I know who can relate at all."

"Ulrich, you are a good friend and I will absolutely help in any way I can."

He looked back up. "How do you deal with it when the person you love starts seeing someone else."

She couldn't help letting out a small laugh and pinched the bridge of her nose at the irony of the situation. When she looked back at Ulrich her face was filled with compassion. "Maybe you don't have the right to ask me that, but since you're a good friend I'm going to tell you the answer anyway." He looked at her expectantly. "It just takes time." She smiled sincerely at him, but he cast his eyes down. "Time and good friends you can talk to." Ulrich looked back up to see Sissi's still smiling face and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly at the implied offer. "You can talk to Odd too, he'd also be glad to help any way he can. We won't tell Yumi either, ok?"

"Thanks, Sissi _."_


	8. The Date

_Late February_

_The Date_

The next morning came and Yumi was just about ready to leave for class. She shouted to her mom that she wasn't going to be home for dinner just before walking out the door so her mom wouldn't have the chance to ask any questions. She was excited and nervous about her date that evening, but didn't really know what to expect, having never really been on a first date before. Her first 'date' with Ulrich wasn't exactly typical, she knew that much, but they'd already had a long history together already. She sort of had an idea from movies, but even then, romance movies weren't really her thing. As she was walking, she saw Sissi running out from her apartment trying to catch up. Yumi guessed that she wanted to know how last night went. Sissi's classes didn't start anywhere near the same time as Yumi's so they never walked together in the mornings. Since the conversation with Ulrich went well, Yumi decided to oblige her.

"Hi, Sissi. I managed to talk to Ulrich last night."

"Morning Yumi, and?"

"And it went much better than I expected. I could tell it made him kinda sad, but surprisingly he really was very supportive."

"I figured he would be." After talking with him last night, Sissi knew that Ulrich loved Yumi too much to not support her being happy, even at the expense of his own happiness. Sissi didn't know if Yumi not knowing how devastating the date was to Ulrich was better or not, but she promised him that she wouldn't tell Yumi they were talking. Instead, she took the conversation in a different direction. "Did you talk about boundaries?" She genuinely didn't know; Ulrich didn't go into the details of the conversation itself. Yumi, on the other hand, squirmed uncomfortably.

"No, I forgot when he took the news better than I expected."

Sissi sighed. "Well, when things get messy don't say I didn't warn you."

Yumi glowered at her in irritation. "Oh, come on, it'll be fine! You worry too much."

"If you say so Yumi." Replied Sissi, shaking her head.

The two girls made it to campus and parted ways, Yumi to class, and Sissi to the library to study for a while before her classes started. Despite her best efforts, Yumi was having a hard time paying attention and the day crawled by unbearably slowly. Her last class got out at about 4:30, so she spent the next hour unsuccessfully attempting to study at the library before making her way to the cafeteria.

Walking into the main dining area, she saw Jacques at the same table they met at the day before. He was studying. As he approached, he noticed her and smiled just as she was reaching the table.

"Hi Jacques!"

"Hey Yumi, ready to go?" He started packing up his books.

Yumi returned the smile. "Yes!" He finished packing up his books and the two left the library. "Where are we going?" Yumi asked as they were just about to walk off campus.

"A little cafe not very far called Mel's. They've got good food, and it's not too pricy."

" _I love you Yumi, and I don't want to be without you anymore."_

Ulrich's confession from years ago echoed in Yumi's ears, and her steps faltered just a little bit. She couldn't bring herself to go there with someone else, especially not on a date. "I don't want to sound picky, but could we go somewhere else?"

Jacques raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Something wrong?"

"Memories..." Yumi answered shortly. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Not a problem sweetheart, there's plenty of other places we can go." He started walking and Yumi looked at him funny for a second, thinking it was a little presumptuous to already be using terms of endearment. Putting it out of her mind though, she followed him to a different diner that was also not too far from the college. The two of them talked about plans after college, high school, and a few other things. Yumi did note that while she certainly wasn't falling head over heels for the guy, but he seemed nice enough and she was having a pretty good time.

After dinner, the two of them left and went for a walk while continuing their conversation. Yumi though they were wandering kinda aimlessly until they stopped at an apartment building on campus.

"This is my place, want to come in?"

Yumi was a little surprised at their destination, but she was still having a pretty good time. "Sure, why not."

They walked up and Jacques opened the door and held it for her. She walked in and heard the door shut behind her. Then she heard the deadbolt... she turned around seeing a predatory gleam in Jacques eyes as he closed the distance and started kissing her roughly! Pushing him away, she shouted in disgust, " _get off me! What is wrong with you!?"_

Jacques took a step back, surprise and displeasure written all over his face. "Me? What's wrong with you!?"

"Just what kind of girl do you think I am!?" Yumi spat.

Jacques snorted. "The kind that comes to a guy's apartment on the first date!"

Realizing his intentions, Yumi couldn't believe how naive she'd been and let out an audible grown before retorting, "well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but no actually, I'm not. I'm leaving."

As Yumi tried to walk past him, he grabbed her wrist. "Hey, where do you think you're going. The night is young, and there's always a first time for everything..." He was talking in what he must have assumed was a seductive voice, but it only aggravated Yumi more.

"Let go before I make you," she hissed.

He chuckled. "I'd like to see that."

Yumi rolled her eyes before giving her wrist a practiced flick, breaking free of his grasp. After her arm was free, she shoved him with both hands sending him into the wall. Part of the drywall caved slightly under the impact, and when he pulled himself away he looked at the damage. " _Why you...! You're gonna PAY FOR THAT!_ "He turned back around and tried to take a clumsy, unpracticed swing at Yumi, which she batted aside easily. She deftly swung her leg up from behind her planting her heel into the side of his head, and he collapsed in a heap.

Yumi left in too much of a rush to even shut the door behind her. As she hurried home, she got her phone out and without even thinking pulled up Ulrich's name out of sheer habit and hit call.

"Yumi? I thought you were on a date... is everything ok!?" He sounded confused and worried.

"He turned out to be a complete jerk! It was going fine until we took a walk that ended up at his apartment and he invited me in."

"Please tell me you didn't go in..."

"Unfortunately, I did." Yumi spat, and Ulrich groaned. Yumi decided to leave the kiss out of it, but she continued with the rest. "After I figured out what he was after I tried to leave, but he grabbed my arm. When I pushed him away and into the wall, he came back trying to hit me!"

"Are you serious, that's assault! You should call the police and press charges." Now he sounded furious.

Yumi shook her head, though he couldn't see it. "No, I dealt with it. I left an imprint of my boot in the side of his head."

"You should still press charges!" He sounded like he was getting irritated at her as well as furious at Jacques. She _really_ didn't like that.

"I don't need to press charges, I knocked him out cold! He's nowhere near as threatening as XANA _ever_ was! Besides what're you getting mad at me for!?"

"XANA was a computer virus not bound by the law, or even the laws of physics for that matter! This is a person we're talking about who is, and you should press charges!" He was raising his voice now.

"What I DON'T need, is you telling me what to do _DAD!_ " She screamed into the phone and hung up before starting to walk around aimlessly.

After about an hour of wandering she had calmed down some. It was also starting to get late, so she headed for home. She messaged her parents to let her know that she was on her way, and without thinking much about it she also sent a message to Sissi.

_Thanks for being a good sparring partner, it came in handy._

Sissi called almost immediately after Yumi sent the message and Yumi cursed herself realizing that there was no way she wouldn't. Begrudgingly, she answered knowing that Sissi wasn't going to stop calling until she knew what was going on.

"Hi Sissi."

"What's going on Yumi, what happened!?" Sissi sounded frantic.

"I'm fine, the date just went... poorly."

Sissi sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're ok. So, what happened?"

Yumi proceeded to fill her in on the details of the evening after dinner, including the conversation with Ulrich. While Sissi actually agreed with Ulrich, she didn't want to be ostracized along with him while Yumi was still upset, so she went in a different direction than he did. "You know he was just worried because he cares about you."

"He doesn't need to worry about me, I can handle myself!"

"No one said you can't." Sissi replied, trying to be diplomatic.

Yumi sighed deeply. "I guess. Well, you know what happened now, and I just arrived at home so I'm going to take a nice hot bath. It's been a rough evening."

"Ok Yumi. Are we still on for sparring tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, I got enough homework done last night that I can take the morning off. See you then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." After hanging up with Yumi, Sissi pulled up her skype contacts and called Ulrich. She figured she'd see if he was ok after Yumi hung up on him.

After few seconds of 'ringing' Ulrich's face appeared on her screen. It looked like he was slouching horribly with his eyes drooped in frustration. "Hi." He greeted unenthusiastically.

"Hi Ulrich. I just hung up with Yumi, she told me everything." He closed his eyes and shook his head before letting his head flop back to look at the ceiling. "Including your guys' conversation."

He pulled his head back down. "She's just being stubborn!"

"You know, you can be pretty stubborn yourself." That remark earned her a hard glare from Ulrich. "But I also think that you were right."

His expression softened "thanks, Sissi."

"But it seemed like both of you were pretty emotional and I don't blame either one of you for that."

Ulrich thought for a minute before replying. "Maybe I was a little forceful."

Sissi smiled, glad that she was able to coax him into admitting that. "Just give it a little time. Before you know it, I'm sure you'll be best friends again." It was slight, but she noticed him wince when she said 'best friends,' and felt sympathy for him. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything more that she could do for him on that front than she already was. Even so, a few seconds later he smiled slightly.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll give her a couple weeks to cool down, then I'll try calling her again. Could you just keep me posted like you were before we started talking again?"

"Of course. I know you care about her a lot. It seems like you're feeling better, and I've got to get back to homework though. It just never seems to end!"

"Unfortunately, that is very true! Goodnight Sissi, thanks for calling."

"You're welcome, goodnight."

After he hung up, Sissi groaned and shook her head. The two of them could both be proud as peacocks, and stubborn as mules. She was completely bewildered that despite their pride and stubbornness the two of them somehow normally got along famously, though once in a while times like this happened... Shaking her head again, she hoped their fight would be short lived and turned her thoughts back to her homework.


	9. Discoveries

_Late March_

_Discoveries_

It was a chilly spring Friday morning in Massachusetts, and Jeremy was busy making a massive cup of coffee to compensate for staying up extremely late last night. He was doing some personal research and he finally got the breakthroughs he was looking for, but it wasn't all good news. Before heading off to class, he sent a message to Yumi. He figured it was a good time as she should be just finishing lunch right about now.

'Can we talk later tonight? I really need some advice.'

A minute later his phone buzzed, alerting him to her response.

'Sure, 3:00 your time work?'

Jeremy figured it was going to have to work. Being 9:00 her time, any later would probably be a bit much.

'Works for me.'

The rest of the morning dragged on uneventfully, except for the fact that Jeremy was having an uncharacteristically difficult time paying attention in class. The revelations of the previous night were simply too big to put out of his mind.

2:30 came around and signaled the end of his last class of the day. 2:45 came right around when he got back to his dorm where he got on his computer and started making what he figured were necessary preparations for his conversation with Yumi. 3:00 rolled around and he had just finished as Yumi messaged him.

'Ready?'

He clicked on the 'call' icon and Yumi's face appeared a few seconds later. Her room was visible in the background and she had her headphones in. That was good, Jeremy didn't want to be overheard. "Hi Jeremy, what's going on?"

"Umm... a lot actually, just a second." He typed in a few commands and hit enter.

"Whoa, what just happened!" Yumi exclaimed. Jeremy had expected her phone to go completely on the fritz for a second, but he chided himself for not giving Yumi more warning.

"Sorry, but I just hacked your phone for the time being."

Yumi stared at Jeremy incredulously, "why did you do that?"

Jeremy smirked. "Because now we have a secure connection. Some of what we might end up talking about is classified, and I'd rather be safe."

"Oh...ok then." Yumi looked rather surprised.

Jeremy's expression softened considerably, and he flashed a grateful smile at Yumi. "Before all that though, I want to really thank you again for your suggestions for me and Aelita. They've really helped."

Yumi smiled back. "You're welcome, I'm glad it did!"

"No, really." He looked away from the screen sheepishly before continuing quietly. "We're closer than we've been in a long time. Close enough that… I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Yumi's mouth opened in awe at the good news. "That's wonderful! Do you know when you're going to ask? Do you have a ring yet?"

"No, not yet." Jeremy grinned for a moment, but quickly became serious again. "That's a little way off because there are some other things that we need to do first, and not all of it's so happy. Aelita doesn't know anything yet, and I'm not sure how to talk to her about it. That why I wanted to talk to you."

Yumi's excitement quelled and she looked at the screen attentively. "Alright, go ahead."

"Since we've dropped down to a normal workload of classes, I've been able to do some digging into Aelita's past. I found out she wanted to know more about things recently."

"Oh, so she told you that she wanted to know about the rest of her family then."

"Actually, no… how did you know?"

Yumi tilted her head in confusion. "She told me a few months ago, but she didn't want you killing yourself over it. How did you end up finding out?"

"Sometimes she talks in her sleep."

"Oh, ok." Yumi didn't think anything of that statement at first, but a few seconds later something clicked, and she gasped as her eyes shot wide open. "JEREMY!"

His head jerked back, worried by her sudden outburst. "What? Is something wrong!?"

Getting over her surprise, Yumi chuckled and grinned mischievously at her friend. "So, how would you know something like that Einstein?"

He blushed and suddenly looked like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar as he realized what he let slip. "We study every Friday night together, like _you_ suggested, and we go to a coffee shop early Saturday morning, also like _you_ suggested," he defended.

The grin remained plastered to her face. "I don't remember suggesting _anything_ in between studying and coffee… Just what have you two been up to, Jeremy?"

When he noticed that she wasn't actually scolding him and was just teasing, he returned her snarky grin. "Cuddling... and nothing else. Besides, I'm proposing soon anyway!"

Yumi chuckled. "That's true. It really isn't any of my business anyway. You two are happy, and that's what I care about," she replied. Her grin changed from teasing, to sincere.

"Well, it really is only cuddling, just overnight. Our brains are normally too baked after studying for anything else anyway!" He smirked for a moment but quickly returned to all business again. "Anyway, I've been poking around the last few weeks trying to find info on Aelita's family and past. I've found something big."

"Ok..." Yumi replied slowly. "What did you find?"

"Her mother..." The phone must have slipped out of Yumi's hand in shock because screen went crazy before mostly coming to a stop, swinging slightly with Yumi's feet in view. "Yumi?" Jeremy called out after a few seconds. The screen went crazy again before focusing back on Yumi's face.

"You found Aelita's mom..." Yumi said absently, her eyes still a bit wide.

"Well... not exactly..." she glanced around nervously before leaning in closer, listening attentively before Jeremy continued. "She died a couple years before I restarted the supercomputer. There was a funeral, an obituary, and she's buried in a small town in England. Going off her maiden name of Hopper, she probably grew up around there."

"Jeremy, this is huge, and you need to tell Aelita immediately."

He sighed, and the corners of his mouth turned down into a troubled frown. "I know, I just found it last night myself. I'm going to tell her tonight, but I just don't know _how_ to tell her... I mean, how do you tell someone that their mom is gone?"

Yumi thought for a minute. "I don't know. Maybe when you bring it up, start by telling her that she passed immediately so that way it doesn't get her hopes up, even if only for a moment." Jeremy cupped his chin in his hand thoughtfully. "And you're sure it's her?"

"Unless you know of another Anthea Schaeffer with cotton candy pink hair, it's got to be her."

"Ok, the hair's a dead giveaway for sure." She sighed. "Well, I wish I had better advice. Good luck Jeremy. Good luck with the proposal too, though I don't think you need it for that part. I'm sure she'll say yes!"

Jeremy smiled at her. "Thanks, Yumi. Could you not mention any of this to anyone? Including Sissi or Ulrich?"

"I won't, I promise. I haven't talked to Ulrich for about a month anyway, we had a fight."

Jeremy's grin faded and he shook his head. "I'm not even going to ask what about, but try not to stay mad at him for too long. Your friendship has survived Lyoko, XANA, William and old Sissi jealousy issues, 'just friends,' and breaking up! Whatever it was, I have a hard time believing it's bigger than those, and it's definitely not worth losing touch with each other over."

Yumi pondered his words for a minute, then sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll talk to him eventually, but it's definitely not going to be tonight. It's late, and I've got to get to sleep."

"Ok Yumi, goodnight."

"Bye, Jeremy." Yumi's image on screen disappeared as she hung up. Jeremy sighed, his heart aching over the crushing news he was going to bring Aelita this evening.

Eventually evening did come, and Aelita knocked on Jeremy's door. He had been pacing for the better part of an hour before she'd arrived. He really hoped that he wouldn't be this nervous before he finally ended up proposing! He opened the door to see Aelita with a big grin on her face at seeing him, which quickly faded when she saw the troubled look on his face.

"Jeremy, what's wrong?"

Gulping, he replied, "I-I need to talk to you about something, in private."

Confused and worried, Aelita let Jeremy guide her into his room and sit her down on the bed while she tried to keep from fretting too much.

"What's going on Jeremy?"

He looked at the floor "Since we've had lighter loads for class this semester, I've been able to do some digging, and I found out what happened to your mom." Aelita gasped. "And I'm so sorry, but she's gone."

Aelita's heart constricted in her chest. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am." Jeremy sat down at his computer and started sifting through the files he found the night before bringing up the picture of Anthea Schaeffer and the obituary. He quickly swiveled his chair to face Aelita again, expecting her to need to be held. He was right. She stumbled forwards and collapsed towards him. After catching her, he pulled her up onto his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her as she started weeping. "I'm so sorry Aelita."

For a long time, they just sat there with Aelita sobbing into Jeremy's shirt with his arms around her while he gently ran his fingers through her hair. When Aelita stopped crying she picked her head up and looked at Jeremy. "I guess you really are the only family I have now."

"Aelita..."

"Were you able to find out what happened?"

Jeremy smiled slightly, but without any real happiness. "Yes, she died of complications during breast cancer treatment." Aelita buried her face in Jeremy's shirt again. "I don't know if it helps at all, but at least she died a free woman."

Slowly, Aelita pulled her face back away from Jeremy and looked up at him. "How? Did she escape or something?"

"No, actually. It seems that your father wasn't just a part of Project Carthage, he was the lead scientist and designer. Without his intellect at the helm it went nowhere. A couple years later the project was defunded due to lack of results. Six years after being abducted, around the same time you and Franz were virtualized, there was a shift in political power and there was a lot of internal pressure to release government prisoners that were deemed 'low risk.' One of them was your mother. She passed eight years later, so she was at least able to live a somewhat normal life after being released. It seems that she never remarried though and didn't have any other children."

Aelita laid her head on Jeremy's shoulder and sniffed. "She's been gone for eight years then."

"Yeah."

There was a long silent pause before anyone spoke again. "Thanks for looking Jeremy, it means a lot to me."

He smiled at her. "You're welcome Aelita, but there's one more thing."

"What's that?" She asked without lifting her head.

"I found where she's buried. It's near a small town in northern England."

She jerked her head back up again to stare at him and swallowed hard. "I want to see her..."

Jeremy cupped his girlfriend's cheek. "I thought you might. I've already figured out the particulars of the trip, and we can go when we're back in Europe during spring break. I told my dad enough about what was going on and he was very understanding."

Tears started welling up in Aelita's eyes again and she hugged her boyfriend tightly. "Thank you, Jeremy. I'm sad to know that I'll never see my mom again, but at least I can stop wondering and maybe get a little closure."

He leaned his head into hers. "You're welcome Aelita. I'm sorry I couldn't bring you better news."

The two sat there like that for a while before Aelita spoke again. "I wish we could just sit here like this, but I guess we should probably try to get some homework done?"

Jeremy sighed. "Yeah, we should probably at least try. I'm not sure I'll be able to concentrate though."

"Yeah, me too."

With one final squeeze, the two untangled themselves from one another and did classwork for as long as they could concentrate before heading to bed.


	10. Spring Break

_Early May_

_Spring break_

It was 4:45 on Friday afternoon, the start of spring break. Classes had just gotten out and Yumi and Sissi were waiting for Odd, Jeremy, and Aelita to arrive at Sissi's apartment and they were both extremely excited. Ulrich wasn't going to be able to make it again due to soccer practices and for some tutoring he was receiving during the break. Yumi still hadn't spoken to him since their fight, so she wasn't quite sure how she to feel about his absence. Even if they weren't 'together' anymore, they were still good friends… just ones that hadn't been speaking at the moment. Sissi, on the other hand, was pacing furiously in the living area of her small apartment.

"Will you sit down; you're going to wear a hole in the rug!" Yumi teased.

"I can't, he's going to be here any minute!" She replied excitedly. Yumi just shook her head and chuckled.

_Knock knock_

Sissi covered the short distance to the door at nearly a dead sprint and almost didn't stop in time to keep from running into it, which Yumi found quite amusing! Sissi flung open the door to see Odd standing there with a suitcase next to him. He still dressed in all purple like he always had, but the dyed splotch in the front of his hair was gone. His hair was still spiked up, though it was much shorter than it used to be.

"ODD!"

"SISSI!"

The two of them shouted out at the same time and Sissi picked her short fiancé up under his arms crushing him to her and twirled him around before putting him back down and hugging normally. Their faces were practically glowing in each other's embrace. Yumi wanted to laugh at the exuberant (and completely role-reversed!) display of affection, but it was also very touching, so she just smiled. She may have stifled her laughter but made sure to remember this if she ever needed to get Odd off her case for something! When the two of them pulled back from the hug and started kissing, however, Yumi decided that she'd seen enough and cleared her throat to get their attention.

The two of them broke apart and looked at Yumi unapologetically. "What?" asked Sissi with a giggle, "we haven't seen each other in months!" She stepped behind Odd and wrapped her arms around him over his shoulders and happily rested her chin on his head.

"Hi Yumi!" Greeted Odd cheerfully, putting his arms over Sissi's. "Haven't talked to you since the reunion, how's my girl's maid of honor doing?"

"I've been doing pretty well, actually."

"Good, good! Glad to hear it!"

Yumi got a chair from the dining area so Sissi and Odd could cuddle up on the small couch together. The three of them made small talk for a while before Sissi went to the kitchen to start preparing some snacks before Jeremy and Aelita arrived, which left Odd and Yumi alone.

He leaned over toward Yumi and asked, "are you still mad at Ulrich?"

Yumi leaned away slightly from him and her eyebrows furrowed in surprise. Recovering her composure, she leaned back in. "No, not really," she replied quietly. "He hasn't tried calling in... I don't really know how long."

"He's letting you have space. He figured since you weren't answering, you still needed it. It's not like the old days where bi-weekly, or more, XANA attacks forced us together."

Yumi chuckled wryly. "Yeah, but at least now we can afford the time since we're not risking our lives anymore!"

"I guess." The small blond sat for a moment looking deep in thought before continuing. "If you want to keep in contact and stay friends with him it's going to take some work from both of you, and I know he's willing to put in the work. But if you don't want to keep in contact, then please let him know. I'm ask this as his friend... and as your friend too for that matter. Hanging out in limbo like he is right now is killing him... though he'd probably _rather_ die than ever admit it himself; you know how he is."

Yumi sighed, suddenly feeling bad about leaving him high and dry. "No, I don't want to lose contact with him, but I did tell him not to wait for me..."

Sissi walked back into the room with a platter of charcuterie, cheese, and crackers, and the conversation ended a little prematurely. When Sissi placed the platter on the coffee table in the middle of the room, Odd started reaching out for some until Sissi swatted his hand away!

"You're not allowed to touch until Jeremy and Aelita get here, or they're be none left for them!" She spoke as if she was teasing, but they all knew that she was actually being serious. Just to spite him Yumi grabbed a couple crackers, some cheese and a slice of salami to make a little sandwich, though she didn't rub it in any further than that. The corners of Odd's mouth turned down and he gazed longingly at the snacks, a slight whimper could also be heard from him. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long.

_Knock knock knock_

Sissi got up to get the door while Odd went to the dining area to get the remaining chair. Yumi got up to stand behind Sissi while she opened the door to reveal Jeremy and Aelita. Greetings and hugs were exchanged, Jeremy and Odd shared a fist-bump, and overall everyone was very excited to see everyone else. While Jeremy was hugging Yumi, he discreetly whispered to her, "Aelita knows about her mom, and that you know about it too, but no one else does. No one but you knows about the proposal." Yumi was glad he said something, because she was planning on asking Aelita about her mom right out of the gate. When they all settled down, Odd and Sissi resumed their place on the couch snuggled into each other, though Odd made sure he was able to reach the snacks, while Yumi sat on the floor to allow the two dining room chairs to be used by Jeremy and Aelita.

"Well Sissi, we've got something to tell you", started Aelita as Sissi took Odd's hand and squeezed it tightly. She had a feeling that she knew what it was about.

Jeremy continued with a smile, "we've officially figured out that we are able to reverse your memory wipes! Though it's probably going to be a few more months before it's ready."

At first Sissi could only smile meekly in appreciation at the pair of geniuses, while a couple of tears fell from her eyes. Eventually she composed herself enough to let out a quiet, simple, "thank you."

As the evening went on, Yumi had a good time catching up with everyone. However, she felt a little bit like a fifth wheel, and she wondered if Odd felt like this before Sissi had been accepted into the group. The feeling really made Ulrich's absence very noticeable to her and she made up her mind that she wished he had been able to come regardless of their fight.

Eventually though, it was time for everyone to head out. Jeremy's parents had been treating Aelita like family for years by now, so she was staying with them and Jeremy, and Yumi didn't want to further intrude on Odd and Sissi. Before she left Odd managed to get her off to the side during everyone's 'farewells.'

"Hey, remember what I said."

_Ding ding_

Yumi's phone alerted her to a message. "The rest of us are all already here..." Odd pointed out with an amused look on his face. Yumi pulled her phone out to see it was Ulrich.

'I know you're probably having a good time with the others right now, but if it doesn't go too late could we talk?'

"Speak of the devil..." Odd remarked, reading over her shoulder. Yumi looked at Odd with eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Hey, don't look at me! I didn't plan this, I swear!" Her expression softened a little, though she wasn't entirely convinced. "Well, are you going to answer?"

"When I leave," she replied curtly before turning away to give Sissi a hug goodbye. Afterwards she followed Jeremy and Aelita out the door.

"How are you doing Aelita?" Yumi asked when they were out of earshot, but before the couple got into the car Jeremy was borrowing from his dad.

"I'm doing ok, but I'm a little nervous I guess." She had been a little quiet for most of the evening. "We're going to see my mother tomorrow, so I don't think I'm going to sleep much."

Yumi put her arms around the pink-haired Young woman. "You're going to be ok. Jeremy will be with you, and that counts for a lot."

"Yeah, it does," Aelita replied and Yumi shot a knowing smile and a wink towards the tall blond over Aelita's shoulder and he blushed slightly. Yumi let go and walked over to Jeremy to give him a quick hug goodbye as well. "Alright, I've got to get home. I know it'll be late, but could you let me know when you two make it?"

"Sure thing Yumi, we'll see you around!" Jeremy replied before turning to open Aelita's door for her like a gentleman.

"Goodnight, Yumi," Aelita said before getting into the car. Jeremy got in the driver's side and Yumi waved as they pulled away.

After they left, Yumi's phone felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket. The truth was that she missed talking to Ulrich too. She felt awkward about taking the initiative to call him and was actually thankful that he reached out first. Taking it out, she read his message again before replying.

'Headed home now, I'll call in about a half hour to forty-five minutes, if that's not too late.'

She didn't even bother putting her phone away and just carried it as she started walking toward her parent's house.

_Ding ding_

She looked back down at her phone and saw his response.

'Thanks, that's not too late."

When she got home, she greeted her parents and Hiroki quickly before going through her evening routine. She sat up on her bed and had her phone in hand, about to message Ulrich.

_Knock knock_

Sighing in frustration, she called out, "come on in." It was Hiroki.

"Hey Sis, could I get some help with my Italian homework tomorrow? It's really kicking my butt."

Yumi grinned a little at her brother. He was doing his best to be a good student and she was proud of him. "Yeah, how about tomorrow morning? Sissi's with Odd so we're not sparring."

"Thanks Sis." He turned around and left the room.

Yumi typed out 'ready' in her phone. Looking at it for a moment before sending, she wondered how accurate that actually was. She missed talking to Ulrich but hated the apprehension that seemed to come before reconnecting. She eventually pressed the send button though, and shortly afterwards her phone started buzzing.

"Hi Ulrich, what's up?" She attempted to greet cheerfully.

"Hey Yumi." He didn't sound too happy, and that had her kinda nervous. "I guess it's my turn to vent."

It didn't sound like his frustrations were directed towards her, so Yumi had a feeling that she knew what this was about. "Having issues with your dad again?"

"Yeah, he's being ridiculous. He found out about me getting tutored during the break, and he's not happy about it."

Yumi jerked her head back in bewilderment. "What!? That's stupid!"

"I know!" Ulrich did a mocking impression of his dad, "you're a Stern, you should be the one tutoring, not being tutored!"

Yumi clapped her hand to her forehead, feeling bad for him. "I am so sorry, Ulrich.

Ulrich sighed. "At least he doesn't have anything he can hold over my head anymore."

"Yeah, I remember you saying that he's not paying for any of your school?"

"That's right, I wouldn't let him. Thankfully most everything is payed for by my soccer scholarship anyway so I shouldn't have _too_ much debt when I graduate."

"Yeah, I remember talking about that before you left."

There was silence on the line for a few minutes.

"Yumi, about the last time we talked..."

Yumi winced and cut him off. "We don't need to talk about that."

"I think we do," he insisted, and Yumi nibbled her bottom lip nervously. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and trying to tell you what to do. You're not a kid and I know you can take care of yourself."

Yumi stopped chewing her lip and felt the corners of her mouth turn up at his unexpected apology. "I'm sorry too. I was upset and just wanted to drop it and leave it."

"That was your choice to make, not mine." Yumi's smile got wider at his understanding.

What Yumi didn't know was that peering through the crack in the door, she had an eavesdropper. Upon hearing Yumi's greeting to Ulrich, he just had to see how his sister was going to act, but the way she was beaming at this point in the conversation told him everything he felt he needed to know. He smiled to himself and headed down the hall to his own room.

"Hey Ulrich, I've been wondering something," Yumi began, "before the fight we were able to talk a lot, but before we broke up you didn't seem to have any time for anything. Why was that?"

"Before we... broke up..." it seemed to Yumi that saying those words out loud was still difficult for him. "I was taking all the shifts at work I could manage, but you... leaving... was a wakeup call to what it was costing me, and I quit."

Yumi was still confused. "Why were you working all those shifts in the first place?"

Yumi heard him sigh, and she heard a noise in the background, like a drawer or something. "I... I don't want to talk about it." Yumi heard him sigh into the phone and quietly add, "It wasn't worth it." He was starting to sound pretty shook up.

Yumi figured that he partially blamed how much he was working for the breakup so she could understand why he wouldn't want to talk about it. She didn't push the issue, but she still wondered why he felt he needed to work that much then when he didn't need to now. "Ok, we'll talk about something else."

The two spent the next couple hours catching up with each other. When the mood lifted, Yumi enjoyed reconnecting again a lot.

"It was good hearing from you again, Yumi."

"Same here, Ulrich."

"Can we try to avoid that 'not talking' nonsense in the future? I hated not talking to my best friend for months, and after talking tonight, it seems like you weren't too fond of it either."

Yumi laughed. "That sounds good! You're right, I didn't like it. I shouldn't have ignored your calls." They both paused for a moment before Yumi said, almost tenderly, "goodnight, Ulrich."

"Goodnight, Yumi."

After the call disconnected, Ulrich sighed and whispered, "I still love you," to no one before crawling in bed and falling asleep.


	11. Old Acquaintances

_Early May_

_Old Acquaintances_

Early the next morning Aelita and Jeremy stepped out of the car at the ferry station along with his parents. It was an unseasonably chilly morning for May, and the forecast predicted that it wasn't going to get much warmer. Though the young couple wore hats and hooded sweatshirts, they were still shivering slightly.

"Alright you two, you've got your passports and everything, right?" Asked Michael Belpois, Jeremy's father.

"Yeah dad, I made sure we had everything together last night," replied Jeremy.

Aelita stood by the car staring blankly towards the barely visible English coast, where her mother laid to rest. Jeremy's mother, a small blonde woman named Eloise, walked over to her and gave her a hug. "You're going to be ok sweetie."

Aelita returned the hug. "Thanks, Mrs. Belpois."

Jeremy's mom let go and pulled away. She placed her hands on Aelita's shoulders and smiled sweetly at her. "Your parents might be gone, but you're family to us." Aelita stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Eloise again, taking whatever comfort she could from her.

"I'm sorry to have to break this up, but I think they need to get going," said Michael, Jeremy's father. He turned to Jeremy. "Just let us know when you two need to get picked back up."

"Thanks, Dad. We appreciate the ride."

"No problem Jeremy. We'll see you when you get back."

The two parents watched their son and his girlfriend walk away hand in hand, and when they were out of earshot it was Eloise who spoke first. "Poor girl, she's been through so much."

"Yeah, and I get the feeling that there's a lot more that they haven't told us," added Michael.

"Which is fine." Eloise reminded her husband. "They're both adults now, all we can do is be there for them if they need us."

"Yes, I know. Jeremy tries to take such good care of her." Michael looked over at their son and Aelita. He watched Jeremy hold his hand out to steady Aelita as she came aboard the ferry and he grinned. "On a lighter note, I can't help feeling that Jeremy's going to give her the official invitation into the family soon."

Eloise smiled, taking hold of her husband's arm while leaning the side of her head against his shoulder. "I think you're right. It's not hard to see how much they love each other." She sighed. "Our little Jeremy, all grown up."

"It happens so fast..." Michael looked at his watch. "Looks like it's time for us to get going now though." The two of them got back in the car and drove away.

The hour and a half journey across the English Channel was spent in relative silence. Aelita leaned up against Jeremy's shoulder, unsuccessfully trying to catch up on the sleep her nerves deprived her of the night before. Between the rocking of the boat and the nervous pit in her stomach she couldn't sleep at all.

"Well, we're here," said Jeremy when the ferry docked. The two departed from the boat and walked onto English soil.

"Jeremy," Aelita started, it was the first thing she'd said since they'd left his parents.

"Yes, Aelita?"

"I'm really tired. Can we try to find a coffee shop or something? I'd really like some tea."

Jeremy smiled at her. "Of course, we can." He pulled out his phone and started looking up the nearest shop where they could stop. Finding one a couple blocks down the road, they started making their way through the crowded street.

Entering the coffee shop, they were pleased at how cozy the place felt and how nice it was to be able to warm up after the cold morning and boat ride.

"Jeremy? Aelita?" Called out a familiar voice.

"William!" Exclaimed both Jeremy and Aelita at the same time. William had just walked out from the back. Almost as soon as he saw them, he looked down and focused on preparing a specialty coffee that just got ordered. They hadn't seen or heard from him since he graduated almost three years ago, none of the group had. He didn't look good. His cheeks looked hollow, and from the dark rings around his eyes it looked like he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a very long time.

"What brings you two out here?" He asked without looking up. Both Jeremy and Aelita noticed his odd behavior and exchanged glances but said nothing. This did not go unnoticed by William and he waved them over. "Look, I know I'm acting a little strange, but there's good reason for it." He glanced at the clock behind the counter. "I get off in fifteen minutes, got time to stick around for a bit?"

Aelita looked at Jeremy and he shrugged. "We've got a little while before our bus is scheduled to leave, so ok." The couple got in line and ordered a black tea with honey for Aelita and a hot chocolate for Jeremy then they sat down to wait for William.

Soon enough, William walked over with a coffee of his own. It smelled strong and didn't have any cream in it. He sat down, not looking at either of the two geniuses.

"How have you..." started Jeremy, but William held his finger up to indicate for them to wait for a moment. He tentatively glanced up at Aelita and back to the table a couple times, grimaced, and sighed. Next, he glanced up at Jeremy a few times, each one longer than the last until he let stopped glancing down and chuckled in what seemed to be relief and surprise while looking at Jeremy. Jeremy and Aelita sat in confusion watching the spectacle play out.

"I suppose I should probably explain," he said in a low voice. "First, if you're wondering what I'm doing here, I grew up down the road. They put this coffee shop in just before I started at Kadic." The geniuses nodded in acknowledgement, but they were obviously more interested in his strange behavior. "When you guys freed me from XANA, I couldn't remember anything from the possession. Unfortunately, I didn't get off that easy. I've had nightmares every night about the things XANA used me to do ever since and I haven't been able look at you guys without having flashbacks," he explained. Sometimes I think it would be better if I could simply remember everything so I could deal with it properly." Jeremy and Aelita frowned at each other, then back at him. They felt bad for him and it certainly explained his haggard appearance. His possession wasn't really his fault. He was thrown into everything with nowhere near enough preparation. He gestured to Jeremy. "I must not have attacked you hardly at all, because I can look at you."

Jeremy thought for a minute trying to remember before replying. "No, you really didn't. Probably because I almost never went to Lyoko myself."

William sighed and chuckled wryly, "I guess that makes sense." He looked down at the table, though this time it looked like he was just tired as opposed to trying to avoid looking at Aelita. "So, what brings you two to England?

Jeremy looked to Aelita as if to let her know that he knew that to answer or not was her decision, and she answered the question quietly. "Jeremy found my mother's grave and we're going to visit her. It's a few hours bus ride north of here."

He looked back up at Jeremy. "Do you guys want a ride? I'm free the rest of the day."

"We appreciate the offer, but it's a long drive and we wouldn't want to impose..." Aelita started but was cut off by William. He looked like he was starting to get a little upset.

"My offer to drive you is entirely selfish. I've spent the last four years bottling up everything that happened without being able to talk to anyone and it's tearing me apart! I thought if I just left it alone and put it behind me, I could move on, but I was wrong." With his teeth clenched he looked up at Aelita. She could've sworn she saw his eyes, those sunken in, tired eyes, following the ghosts that danced across his vision. "Look at me, it's only gotten worse. I don't even know when the last time I got more than a couple hours sleep during the night!" Unable to handle looking at Aelita anymore he was forced to avert his eyes and started panting heavily. Then he whispered, "please, I need this."

"We'll accept your ride," blurted Aelita, abruptly interrupting the spectacle. Jeremy looked at her and she glanced purposefully in a few directions. He followed her glances and and saw that there were a few people that had started watching.

"Let's go, we'll talk on the road," said Jeremy, not wanting the attention.

The three left the coffee shop and approached William's car. It was a two-door compact with fast food wrappers and clothes everywhere. "Sorry about the mess and how cramped it is," William apologized.

"That's ok, I'll take the back seat. I'm small enough to fit pretty easily," offered Aelita. William cleared space for the Einsteins and they all got in. Jeremy got William pointed in the right direction and off they went.

"I'm so sorry if I'm drudging up things you guys put behind you." William looked extremely apologetic.

"That's ok William. We've all had our share of nightmares, but we've had people to work through it with." Aelita remarked.

"Telling you guys I needed space was probably a dumb move." He sighed and kept going. "It was always the worst when looking at Aelita," William stated. "That makes sense considering that she was always the target." Jeremy looked back in time to see Aelita wince, but she held strong. "It was hard looking at Yumi too. The feelings I had for her probably made 'watching' the memories worse."

"That sounds hard." Jeremy looked back at William, he was gritting his teeth.

"Yeah. It only took a few days for it to get bad enough that I had to stop going after her. Shortly afterwards I decided to try to push Ulrich to make a move. I couldn't make her happy, but if someone else could I'd be ok with that." Aelita and Jeremy exchanges sad glances with each other over Yumi and Ulrich's current situation. William didn't seem to notice, and he continued, "how are they doing anyway?"

Aelita looked at the floor and Jeremy sighed before he answered. "Yumi broke up with Ulrich because of the distance around the beginning of last semester. As far as I know they started talking a couple months later and seemed to enjoy each other's company again, even if it was long distance. Unfortunately, they had a fight a while ago and last I heard they're still not speaking. I don't know what the fight was about."

William's eyes drooped even further than then they had been, and he seemed to take the news much harder than either of the geniuses expected. "She looked so happy with him when we were at Kadic."

Jeremy, "They both were. Ulrich told me about the conversation you two had, He was very grateful."

"We were with Yumi, Odd, and Sissi last night, and I overheard her and Odd talking about him. I got the feeling that she might regret it," added Aelita. Jeremy glanced at her, it seemed like he hadn't noticed.

"Pushing Ulrich to make his move was one of the hardest things I've ever done... and one of the most rewarding." William let out a large sigh. "Oh well. I've got way too many other things I need to get off my chest to worry about that."

The rest of ride was taxing for everyone. Jeremy and Aelita ended up sharing the story about Anthea Schaeffer and Project Carthage, and William poured out as much of what he'd been bottling up for the last few years as they had time for. A lot of things that he spoke of were making Aelita relive some of her own worst memories, but she stoically yet compassionately kept encouraging him to keep letting it out and letting go. Jeremy couldn't help worrying about her. He knew she was already emotionally taxed about her mother, but she kept at it. A couple of times, they had to pull off the side of the road because William couldn't see the road through his tears anymore, and they had to stop with the impromptu therapy session for him to compose himself enough to keep driving. This also gave Jeremy and Aelita to get out of the car for a few minutes so he could hold her close and provide her with comfort and support that she was needing more and more as the ride went on.

About two and a half hours after they embarked, they finally arrived at the cemetery, and everyone was emotionally drained. Jeremy's worry over Aelita increased dramatically and he hoped and prayed that she still had enough in her for this stop.

William stopped the car and Jeremy looked at him closely. He still looked like he was in rough shape, but he looked remarkably better that when they had found him.

"Thank you so much for listening guys. I know you didn't deserve all that, but I needed it so badly." He sounded much better and extremely grateful.

After William got out of the car Aelita suggested to Jeremy, "you know, maybe it would be better if this wasn't a one-time thing." The recommendation had him a little worried.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jeremy replied.

"He needs this, and he doesn't have anyone else he can turn to. We have each other, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and to a certain extent Sissi."

Jeremy smiled at his girlfriend. Even though he was worried about her, he wondered how he got so lucky to be loved by such an incredible woman. "Ok, we'll offer then."

William opened the passenger side door. "I know you said that project Carthage was defunded, but you should probably cover your hair just in case. There's not very many natural pink-haired young women running around!" He was facing Aelita to talk to her, but he kept his eyes shut.

Her hair was so normal to them that neither Jeremy nor Aelita had thought of that, and it was still cold enough that having her hood up over a hat wouldn't look out of place. "That's a good idea," she said absently as she put her hat on and started tucking her hair up underneath it.

Aelita and Jeremy exited the car and Aelita started rummaging through her purse and found a pen and a small notebook. She wrote down their contact info and tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to William. "Here, these are my and Jeremy's Skype addresses. If you want, we can keep in touch."

He shut his eyes and 'looked' directly at Aelita. Despite being shut his eyes started watering as he held his hand out and Aelita placed the page in it. "Thanks." Aelita stepped up and gave him a hug and the tears fell freely again. They let go and with their farewells he drove off.

After he left Aelita practically collapsed into Jeremy's arms. "Are you sure you're up for this right now?" he asked, catching and supporting her.

"Just give me a minute," she answered, and he held her tightly for the next several minutes. She eventually pulled away and they turned towards the foreboding iron gate that served as the cemetery entrance. Emotionally drained as they already were, they knew they weren't done and with a sigh they started walking.


	12. The Cemetery

**I do not own Code Lyoko, But I do own Neville and Beatrix.**

_Early May_

_The Cemetery_

Almost as soon as Jeremy and Aelita walked through the creepy wrought iron gates of the cemetery, the wind picked up ominously causing the couple to huddle closer while they walked. It was a rather large cemetery, sparsely populated with trees and adorned with walkways that curved and swirled every which way. It would have looked nice in the sun, but in today's blustery weather it just made it look even more dismal and surreal.

Jeremy couldn't find out where in the cemetery the grave was located, nor what the headstone looked like so finding it blindly was a daunting task. They started at one end and looked at the names on every stone. Walking up and down the rows the couple struggled to keep from getting lost, and the twisting pathways didn't help any.

They had been searching for almost two hours, and they were both uncomfortably chilled and starting to get discouraged.

"I wish there had been a map, or something at the front gate..." muttered Aelita, her earlier exhaustion now multiplied with frustration.

"I know, me too," replied Jeremy. He turned Aelita to face him and started rubbing his hands over her shoulders and back in an attempt to warm her up for the third time since arriving. He did this for a couple minutes.

"Thank you, Jeremy." They kept on walking with the only sound being the muttered reading of headstone names they passed by.

"Barbara and Oliver Winchester..."

"Mary and Jack Cumberland..."

"Margaret and George Hopper..."

The two of them lurched to a halt and stared at the stone. "Could it be!?" Aelita asked breathlessly. Her heart thudded in her chest as they looked closer.

"He was 65, and she was 62. They weren't very old when they passed..." Jeremy stated after doing some quick calculations in his head.

"Maybe they were related to my mother, they might even be my grandparents!" Aelita mused excitedly out loud. After a couple more calculations, Jeremy figured out that the dates supported that claim.

They looked back to the next row, and sure enough they found a very familiar name on a relatively small and plain looking headstone

_Anthea Margaret Schaeffer_

_Devoted Wife, Loving Mother_

Aelita's chest tightened and a lump formed in her throat. Jeremy walked behind her and hugged around her middle. It was a good thing too, because Aelita felt her knees almost give out and she was glad for the support. When she regained her footing Jeremy asked, "would you like a minute alone?" She nodded and Jeremy walked about twenty feet away to lean against a nearby tree.

Aelita knelt next to the grave marker and traced her mother's name with her finger and briefly gazed over at the stone of Margaret and George Hopper. _Those are definitely my grandparents then,_ she thought before looking back down to her mother's. "Hi Mom." She whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "I miss you so much, and so much has happened." She spent the next hour or so quietly telling her story, and what happened to her father to her mother's grave. Despite the cold, she couldn't bring herself to move, and tears gently fell down her face the whole time.

When she finished, she looked up at Jeremy for a moment before looking back down. "I'd like you to meet someone. He's very special to me, and I love him very much..." She stood up, waving him back over, and he walked over to her. She took his hand. "This is Jeremy, the same one from the story." The tears started falling harder and her jaw started to tremble. "I wish you could have met each other for real..." She turned to him and buried her face in his shirt while he held her close.

"Don't see too many visitors around here." Squeaked a high-pitched voice with a northern British accent. Startled, the two of them let go of each other and Jeremy turned to see an elderly couple walking up a nearby path. They were probably in their late seventies or early eighties but seemed to be in good shape for their age. Her white hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she was wearing a heavy skirt and coat that looked old, but well taken care of. The man was wearing an old-timey newsboy hat with thin grey hair poking out along the sides. He also had on a dark grey overcoat and lighter grey slacks. With one hand he supported himself on a wooden crook cane, and with the other he held his wife's hand. "Don't mind us, we're just visiting some people ourselves." Aelita turned around, wiping her tears away. "Oh my, are you alright dearie?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

"I'll be ok." When Aelita pulled her hands away from her face, the woman's eyes widened, and so did the man's. After a second though, hers dropped back to normal and looked almost... disappointed. The man, however, squeezed the woman's hand and looked towards her.

"No, too young." She spoke quietly to him, but not quietly enough for Jeremy and Aelita not to hear. There was no mistaking the sadness in her voice. The man looked back at Aelita and must have come to the same conclusion because he calmed down significantly and shared her chagrin. The disappointment was short lived though, and she broke out into a warm smile. "Oh, dear me, where are my manners? I'm Beatrix, and this is my husband Neville." Neville smiled as well and offered a little wave. Jeremy tilted his head to the side, a little confused at Neville. Beatrix noticed Jeremy's confusion. "Oh, don't worry about him, he's mute. A brush of throat cancer got the best of his voice! I always knew them cigarettes were no good!" Neville rolled his eyes and Beatrix looked at him fondly she added, "but he is a sweetie."

With Jeremy's confusion gone, he decided to discreetly try to see if they knew anything, but first came their own introductions. "I'm Jeremy, and this is Maya." He glanced at Aelita, and she offered a small nod in response to his caution. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you visiting?" Neville walked over to Margaret and George Hopper's headstone and placed one hand on it reverently and pointed to Anthea Schaeffer's marker with his other hand.

Aelita's breath caught in her throat again, and she took Jeremy's hand and squeezed it tightly. Jeremy glanced at her and saw a jumble of emotions in her face. Fear, nervousness, anticipation, excitement... "Could you tell us about them?" Aelita asked when she found her voice again.

Neville hobbled back over to Beatrix quickly and her hand, pulling slightly to get her to look at him. There was definitely a trace of fear in his eyes. "It's ok, they're too young for that too," she responded quietly again, and he glanced back over at the younger couple. His expression softened as he looked back to his wife and nodded once in agreement. She smiled again at Jeremy and Aelita, who were now very curious about what they were too young for. "We'd love to, but let's get out of this dreadful weather. Our house is but a short walk."

Jeremy and Aelita followed as Neville and Beatrix led the way.

"Schaeffer's an unusual name around here, isn't it?" Jeremy asked, trying to probe for information.

"At our age... you try not to talk... and walk... at the same time. It takes... too much energy." Beatrix huffed during her response. The got past the cemetery gates and she wheezed out, "not much... further."

Another ten minutes of walking had the four of them approaching an adorable little cottage style house with white stone walls and a well-cared for garden that was just starting to bloom. Neville walked to the door and held it open for the other three. After getting inside, Beatrix hung her coat on a wall mounted rack and sat down in a comfortable looking rocking chair. "Ahh, home sweet home." She gestured to a sofa and bade Jeremy and Aelita to sit down. They did so and Aelita took Jeremy's hand for emotional support as much as for affection!

The interior of the cottage was just as cozy as the outside looked. The walls were wood paneling adorned with lots of pictures and Knick knacks, and there was a fireplace in the corner which Neville quickly had roaring to life. There were two pictures on the mantle above the fireplace that caught both Jeremy and Aelita's eye. The first looked like a candid photo of Anthea laughing. The second was a wedding photo of Waldo Schaeffer marrying a woman that looked like Anthea, but she had blonde hair!

The two geniuses exchanged confused glances. Both wondered if the woman in the wedding photo was indeed Anthea, why her hair was blonde, and why this elderly couple would have both pictures placed so prominently!

"Would you like some tea?" asked Beatrix. "Just a little something to warm up with." Looking over in the kitchen, Neville was already putting water in a kettle.

"That would be great," answered Aelita.

"You were asking something on the way over, dear. What was it again?" asked Beatrix.

Aelita leaned in and whispered to Jeremy, "I don't think I can ask questions without starting to cry... I don't want to cry here."

"That's ok. I'll ask them," he whispered back. "I just said that Schaeffer seems like an unusual name for around here." Jeremy replied to Beatrix's question.

Beatrix chuckled. "It would be, but it was her German husband's name." She gestured to the wedding picture. "That's him. Waldo Franz Schaeffer. Never was there two people so in love..." she trailed off, glancing back to the young couple.

Wanting to keep the conversation moving, Jeremy pointed to the picture of Anthea laughing. "Is that also Anthea?" Beatrix nodded and Jeremy glanced over to make sure that all of Aelita's hair was still properly covered, which it was. "She must have really loved pink to dye it then." Neville walked in and handed a steaming mug of tea to everyone and sat down in another rocking chair next to Beatrix's. If he hadn't been mute, he would have certainly been laughing. He was grinning ear to ear, he must have either really liked this story, or Anthea's pink hair... or both! Beatrix laughed as well.

"Thank you darling." Beatrix took a sip of her tea before continuing. "Funny enough, she didn't." Jeremy tried to feed her a confused look, which he couldn't tell if she believed it or not. She continued anyway. "Waldo was a scientist. A genius, if you will. At the time, Waldo and his team had been doing experiments on mice that changed their fur color on a genetic level." Aelita and Jeremy leaned forward. They both thought her unique hair color would always be a mystery, so they were both very interested in learning about it! "Waldo was having a hard time securing a human volunteer to try it, so she volunteered herself and asked for red hair. He reluctantly agreed, but the experiment didn't go quite as intended. Instead of red, it turned her hair pink!" She giggled. "Waldo promised that he would figure out how to turn it back, but she said she loved it the way it was and refused! She always did like being whimsical." Beatrix looked back at the laughing picture and smiled. "That was taken the day it happened. The real shock came years later when she passed the hair color down to her daughter Aelita!" Aelita squeezed Jeremy's hand tightly and Beatrix's grin faded. "She was such a little angel. She had the prettiest green eyes you've ever seen..." she looked at Aelita and her jaw started trembling. "Almost like yours... but she disappeared along with her father, oh, probably before you were born. Anthea disappeared for several years before that, but she came back a number of years later. She never did find out what happened to her daughter or husband, and she never spoke of what happened to her." She sniffed and blotted her eyes with a hanky she took out from somewhere on her person.

"I'll bet Margaret and George were devastated." Jeremy probed further.

Beatrix took a moment to compose herself. "They were upset, but hardly devastated."

It was Jeremy and Aelita's turn to be confused. "Wait, weren't they Anthea's parents?"

Beatrix laughed. "No dearie, they weren't. They were her Aunt Maggie and Uncle George!"

Aelita squeezed Jeremy's hand even tighter than before and his eyes went wide as they exchanged looks. Aelita's jaw started quivering and her whole body tightened up into one giant knot. It was like all the pieces fit and they both figured out the puzzle at the same time. Beatrix noticed her sudden change in posture and tilted her head to the side in curiosity. Aelita whispered to Jeremy, "I need to know." Understanding what she meant, he let slip his first piece of incriminating information. "Unfortunately, waldo died almost five years ago."

Beatrix's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hand in shock. She put the teacup that she was holding in her other hand down and desperately grasped her husband's hand for support. Neville's squeezed his wife's hand tightly when they managed to get a good hold on each other. His breathing got shallow and highly irregular. After about fifteen seconds, Beatrix pulled her hand away from her mouth and said in a barely audible voice. "You knew Waldo."

"Not very well, but yes," Jeremy confirmed. He felt that one more question was needed. "How did you know Anthea?"

Neville and Beatrix both had tears coming to their eyes, and Beatrix's voice was coming out wobbly as her jaw quivered uncontrollably. "Anthea was our daughter! You were at her grave for a reason, I know it, and if you knew Waldo, then surely you must know something about Aelita! If you can tell us anything our _granddaughter,_ please... I'm begging you!" her voice trailed off as she broke down into hysterics. Neville wasn't holding up much better.

Jeremy felt his own eyes misting over at the emotional scene and looked over to see tears flowing freely down Aelita's cheeks. He gave her hand a light squeeze and let go. She looked to Jeremy; her face full of mixed emotions. He gave her a slightly tearful, yet reassuring smile and looked towards her grandparents.

Aelita tossed back her hood. She then tore her hat off and threw it aside in one motion to expose her bright pink hair. Neville dropped his teacup where it shattered on the floor and paid it no attention as he stood up. Beatrix slowly got to her feet and staggered towards her granddaughter with arms open. Aelita leapt off the sofa and rushed into Beatrix's waiting arms. Neville wrapped his arms around the both of them. All three were crying loudly. Jeremy stayed seated on the sofa taking in the emotional scene in front of him, a few tears making their way down his own cheeks. He was so happy for Aelita that she finally had a connection to the life that was taken from her.

After about ten minutes of hugging and crying, it was Beatrix who pulled back a little and spoke first. "But how? You're so young. You should be nearly thirty by now..."

Aelita just smiled through her tear-stained cheeks. "It's a long story, and we can explain... but can I ask you something?" Beatrix's nodded. "Something happened that kept me from aging for ten years, and it also scrambled a lot of my memories... there's something I need to know..." Aelita leaned close and whispered.

" _When is my birthday"_

Over the next couple hours, Aelita retold the story of the supercomputer, Lyoko, and her father for the second time that day. Beatrix revealed that when Anthea was released, she was able to track Waldo as far as the hermitage, but that was years after he and Aelita were virtualized and she never found the secret passage to the sewers. When the stories were coming to a close, Jeremy looked outside and his heart sank. It was pitch dark outside... he looked at his watch to find his suspicions confirmed and he gently nudged Aelita to get her attention. "Umm... we missed the last bus to the ferry station..."

"... Oh..." Aelita gulped. "Oops..."

Before either one of them had time to think further about it, Beatrix spoke up. "You two are very welcome to stay here for the evening." The geniuses grinned in appreciation, and Neville and Beatrix grinned at having more time with their granddaughter!

Jeremy called his dad to explain what was going on and scheduled a time to be picked up at the ferry in the morning. Michael was surprised, but very pleased to hear about Aelita's grandparents. Afterwards, Beatrix told Aelita and Jeremy stories of Anthea's life until Aelita simply couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and she fell asleep on Jeremy's shoulder. Between meeting up with William, visiting her mother's grave, and finding her grandparents she was emotionally and mentally exhausted. Beatrix had Jeremy carry her to the spare bedroom where they tucked her in, and Jeremy kissed her forehead goodnight.

They returned to the living room where Neville had also fallen asleep in his rocking chair, and they both sat down on the sofa. They sat quietly for a few minutes until Beatrix broke the silence. "That's quite the story you've got." For a moment, Jeremy thought she was going to accuse them of lying, but his fears were unfounded. "If anyone could have built a machine like that it would have been Waldo. It seems that you and your friends went through a lot of trouble for Aelita, for that I thank you so very much. Thank you for finding her and never giving up on her when you did."

"You don't need to thank me. Sure, our fight with XANA was hard and dangerous, but she was worth it."

Beatrix looked down and smiled. "I know that sweetie, but I suppose that's not what I'm trying to say." The smile left her face. "Neville and I are so happy to see her again. Over twenty years later we thought that this day would never come, but we are old now. We don't know how many years we've got left, but that number just keeps getting smaller." She looked back up and straight at Jeremy. "It's not hard to see how much you mean to her, so I probably don't even need to ask this, but please take care of her when we're gone."

It was Jeremy's turn to smile as her request echoed from when he got Waldo's blessing with Aelita. "I will. I have something to ask of you too... if that's ok." Beatrix looked on expectantly and Jeremy's heart thudded with what he was about to reveal. "It might be a little presumptuous right now, but could you do your very best to hold on for at least a few more years..." she kept looking at Jeremy and he looked away apprehensively before finishing. "It would mean so much to her if you... were able to be at her wedding..." Beatrix inhaled in surprise, but then a peaceful smile came over her face. Seeing her positive reaction, he kept talking. "I decided that I was going to ask a few months ago, but this trip needed to happen first."

"I understand dearie, and that was probably a wise choice. You seem like a fine young man Jeremy, we'll hold out for as long as we can, but just know that we don't have forever." Her lips pursed in thought for a moment. "Have you gotten a ring yet?"

"No, but I have money saved for one. Why do you ask?"

Beatrix smiled wide enough to deepen the crow's feet at her eyes. "I'm glad you waited; could you be a dear and help an old woman up. Then if you would, please follow me." Jeremy obediently did as he was asked, and she led him into her bedroom. She pulled a small box out of a drawer and gave it to Jeremy. "Open it." Inside was a beautiful white gold ring with a delicate twist pattern. There was a small diamond embedded between the two branches each time the ring completed another twist, and the center stone was a round pink diamond. "It belonged to Anthea. I want Aelita to have it, and I would be grateful for you to be the one to give it to her."

Jeremy stood there in shock. "I don't know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything to me. Love her, care for her, and make her happy... and take the money you saved up and make the honeymoon extra special."

Humbled, Jeremy replied quietly. "Thank you so much."

"No Jeremy, thank you." She scrunched her eyes and blinked a few times. "Now it is time for this old woman to get to bed, and I'll make breakfast in the morning. You can sleep on the sofa, and don't mind Neville. He falls asleep in that chair often, but he'll make his way to bed soon enough." Jeremy left the bedroom and made sure to put the ring in a secure place that he wouldn't forget about. As he laid down on the sofa he reflected on the day's events. Him and Aelita were certainly going to have news for the others when they got the chance to talk!


	13. The Project

_Late May_

_The Project_

It was Yumi's last class on Wednesday afternoon, a few weeks into the new semester.

"As a reminder, this project is going to be worth a third of your overall score in the class and takes the place of a final exam! I have your assigned partners posted at the back of the lecture hall, and online. Class dismissed!" Called out Yumi's _Intro to Pedagogy_ professor. She had finally made her decision to go into language teaching instead of being an interpreter, a decision she'd been trying to make for a couple years now. She had also been dreading this project the moment she saw it on the syllabus. It wasn't the project itself that bothered her, but the fact that it was a partner assignment… made even worse by having assigned partners! Yumi was one of the top students in most of her classes so she hated group projects. Most of the time her partner normally left her two choices: do most of the work herself, or let her grades suffer if she insisted on dividing the workload evenly... which it never ended up being anyway! Regardless of how she felt about it, she didn't have a choice in the matter. Since almost the entire class was clamoring for the board in back, she figured her partner would be there and now was as good a time as any to meet the deadbeat.

_Xavier Armand - Yumi Ishiyama_

Yumi couldn't believe her luck! It looked like the teacher paired everyone up alphabetically by first name for some reason. She recognized his name from her German class last semester, and he was one of the few students whose grades supposedly rivaled her own. Unfortunately, she didn't know what he looked like, so she stepped away from the crowd and looked aimlessly at random people.

"Are you Yumi Ishiyama?" asked a man from behind Yumi, startling her. She turned around to see a man of average height and build. He had blond hair and green eyes that were framed by a pair of metal rimmed glasses.

"Yeah, that me. How did you guess?"

The man chuckled. "You're the only person here that _looks_ like a Yumi Ishiyama..."

Yumi felt her cheeks flush slightly in embarrassment. She was the only female Japanese student in the class, so of course she would be easy to pick out. Regardless, she held her composure and offered her hand to shake. "Then you must be Xavier, right?"

"Yep, that's me." He shook her proffered hand, then the two of them started heading out. "So, when do you want to get started on this thing? I don't want to wait until the last minute."

Yumi ran through her schedule in her head. She had an early class Friday, so she didn't want to stay up too late Thursday. She had gotten back in the routine of talking with Ulrich on Friday evenings, and she felt that they've been really reconnecting well lately. Saturday mornings were sparring with Sissi, which she didn't want to skip if she could help it. "How about Saturday afternoon?" She asked.

He wrinkled his nose. "Sorry, I can't. I'm already meeting up with another group for another project, and it's probably going to be an all-day affair. How about Friday evening?"

As much as she didn't want to give up talking to Ulrich on Friday, she really wanted to get started on this project. She sighed deeply. "Yeah, I think I can do that."

"You didn't sound particularly excited about that. Did you have plans already?"

"I normally talk to Ulrich on Friday evenings. He's an old friend from middle and high school that I like keeping in touch with." Yumi didn't realize it, but she had taken a slightly softer tone when referencing Ulrich. Whether Xavier noticed it or not, there was no time to point it out because there just walking out the door to outside and they happened to see Jacques entering. He presented Yumi with an extremely rude hand gesture. Yumi, being a bit classier than that, responded with only a glare as they passed one another.

"What was that all about?" Xavier asked after They we're outside and Jacques was inside.

Yumi scowled. "We went on a date once that ended badly... very, very, badly."

"Ok... bad dates happen, but that was downright hostile!"

Yumi groaned. "Fine," she spat out, and gave him a summary of the date.

"Ugh!" Xavier exclaimed with a sour look on his face when she was done. "I've met him before and I thought he was pretty rude, but that's a whole different level of jerk material! That being said, remind me to stay on your good side!"

Yumi chuckled. "Yeah, 15 years of martial arts will do that!" Xavier whistled, then they both saw Sissi flagging Yumi down. She had forgotten that today was one of the days they walked home together. "I've got to get going."

"Alright then, Friday evening? My place sound good?" Xavier asked innocently.

"Umm... no." Yumi replied flatly and gave him a dumb look.

Xavier was confused for a second before he remembered the story of Yumi's date with Jacques. "Ooooohhhhh! Uhh... library?"

Yumi smirked. "The library sounds good." She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote her phone number on it before handing it to him. "We should probably exchange contact info."

"That makes sense to me." He took the sheet, wrote his number on the bottom half, and tore it off giving it to Yumi. "See you on Friday!" He walked off and Yumi walked over to Sissi.

"Hi Yumi, who was that? I hope it's not a repeat of the Jacques affair!" The taller girl chuckled.

Yumi just gave her a light glare. "It's not. His name is Xavier, and we're paired up on a pedagogy assignment, that's all."

Sissi shrugged. "Oh, Ok. He is kinda cute though."

Yumi jerked her head back in surprise. "Sissi! You're engaged!" It wasn't like her to comment on another man's attractiveness.

Sissi laughed "Not for me! For you!" The surprise on Yumi's face gave way to an annoyed leer. "Well, you don't seem to be in a hurry to get back with Ulrich, so you may as well keep an eye out on the playing field!"

"Wait, what!? You're make it sound like you're expecting us to get back together!"

"Maaaayyyyybe..." Sissi joked, smirking while she did so.

Yumi scowled at her. "Me and Ulrich are just good friends now, that's all." Sissi giggled. "Ok, what now!" Yumi was started to get irritated.

Sissi giggled some more. "Oh, that just reminds me of something that Odd told me Ulrich used to say, that's all."

"Whatever, Sissi." Yumi shook her head. She couldn't seem to get a straight answer from Sissi right now and it was really starting to frustrate her, so she just stopped trying. The two had just reached Sissi's apartment complex so it was time to part ways anyway. Frustrated as Yumi was with Sissi, they still hugged before Yumi continued going home. After arriving, she did a little bit of homework before she was called down for dinner with the family.

"How was class, Yumi?" Akiko asked her daughter during dinner.

"I got assigned my partner for my pedagogy project, and I lucked out! I got partnered with Xavier Armand. He was in my German class last semester and his marks are about even with mine." Yumi told her mother excitedly. "We're meeting at the library Friday evening to get started."

Akiko breathed a sigh of relief. She knew how much Yumi had been stressing over this project. Hiroki, on the other hand, groaned slightly. He had noticed that Yumi talked to Ulrich for a long time almost every Friday evening since he first briefly eavesdropped on her, and he was still convinced that they should get back together. "Are you ok Hiroki?" Akiko asked.

"I'm ok, just burned my mouth a little on a hot spot in the food. It's not a big deal." He lied smoothly.

The rest of dinner passed by uneventfully and after dishes were done Yumi went to her room to study some more. Before she got started, she plugged her phone in and stared at it for a second, realizing that she should probably let Ulrich know about Friday. She scrolled through her Skype contacts and saw that he was online, so she plugged in her headphones and messaged him asking if he had a minute to talk. A minute later she had an incoming call from him, and she accepted.

"Hi Yumi, what's up? Is everything alright?" Ulrich asked, a trace of concern in his voice.

"Hi Ulrich, everything's fine. I just thought you should know that I'm going to be working on a group project this Friday, so I won't be able to call. Sorry."

Yumi heard a small sigh of relief on the other line. "That's ok. Is it the project for your pedagogy class?" It sounded like he was just glad she was ok.

"Yep."

"I take it you got assigned your partner, and your lack of groaning about it tells me that you got a good one!"

Yumi grinned widely just as Hiroki walked into her doorway. "Hey, Sis! Are you busy? I could use some help with Italian again." Yumi's grin disappeared as she pursed her lips in slight irritation. Unfortunately, she couldn't really yell at him for barging in because she had left her door wide open.

"Just a second Ulrich." Yumi pulled her headphones off and Hiroki raised his eyebrows. "I'm on the phone..." she snapped.

"Ok! Ok, sorry." Hiroki held his arms up as if in surrender. "How about this weekend sometime?"

Yumi thought for a moment. "I'll make you a deal: I'll help you Saturday afternoon after sparring as long as you make an honest effort to get it done before then."

Hiroki grinned. "Thanks sis!" He turned away to leave

"You're welcome. Could you shut the door on your way out?" He did so and Yumi put her headphones back on. "Sorry about that, Ulrich."

"No problem. How's he doing?"

"Hiroki? He's doing well, though his Italian class seems to keep giving him trouble."

Ulrich chuckled. "At least he's got you to help him out!"

"Yeah, sometimes he needs just a little push in the right direction."

"So, we were talking about your study partner…"

Yumi grinned again at the lucky pairing. "His name is Xavier, and he was in my German class last semester. His grades are about even with mine!"

"That's great! You're very smart, so I'm glad you didn't get paired with a lump." Yumi blushed slightly at the compliment, and there was a pause on the other line before Yumi heard Ulrich sigh. "I wish I had time to just talk now since you're going to be out Friday, but I've got a ton on homework that I can't fall behind on," said Ulrich despondently.

"Me too, but I've got a bunch myself." Yumi sighed, then she got an idea. "Want to just stay on the line?" She reasoned Sissi and Odd could do this for their relationship, there was no reason that her and Ulrich couldn't do it for their friendship!

"What do you mean?" He sounded confused.

"We just don't hang up and do our homework together... sort of."

"Yeah, let's do that! It'd be kinda like being in the same room." He clearly liked the idea, and Yumi could hear the smile in his voice. She felt one spread across her face as well.

"Ok, I've got to get to it."

"Me to."

The two of them worked in silence. On the other line, they could hear each other when they shuffled around, turned pages, or started typing. It was as exactly like Sissi described it: just enough.

Later into the night, it was actually Ulrich who had to call it quits. "I'm glad we were able to do this, and I'd like to do it again, but I've got to get to bed. I've got practice early in the morning."

"Ok, I've still got some more I want to get done. Goodnight, Ulrich."

"Goodnight, Yumi."

He hung up and the way the evening played out had left Yumi in a very good mood. She kept working for about another hour before getting ready to go to bed. When she went to bed, she found a certain brunette young man on her mind. If she hadn't been so sleepy, she just might have realized that she was fondly remembering time spent together while they were dating.


	14. Uncertainties

_Mid June_

_Uncertainties_

It was lunchtime on Thursday, and Yumi and Sissi were eating and making small talk at the student cafe before their last classes of the day, when Yumi's phone buzzed. It was Jeremy.

'Can we talk later today?'

Yumi had been planning on meeting up with Xavier after class, but she should still be able to talk for a bit afterwards. She glanced up to see Sissi looking at her curiously before she responded.

'I should be able to. Sissi is eyeing me suspiciously, can she know what's up?'

After a brief pause where he was presumably thinking it over, Jeremy replied,

'That's fine, as long as she promises not to say anything. I could use multiple perspectives, and I think a woman's opinion is better for this anyway. 6:00 your time sound good?'

Yumi looked back up from her phone to address Sissi. "Want to talk to Jeremy this evening at six? I've got the feeling that Aelita won't be there though, because you're sworn to secrecy." She smiled widely before adding, "and I think I know what it is..."

Sissi grinned slightly. "Sure, I haven't talked to him since spring break." Her grin turned mischievous. "Am I going to get any hints?"

Yumi smirked in return. "No, you're not." Sissi whimpered slightly and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, but Yumi held firm. "Just in case it ends up being something else."

Sissi dropped the pout and shrugged. Knowing that after Aelita, Yumi was Jeremy's closest friend and confidante so it made sense for her to have secrets of his. "Ok, I guess that makes sense. I'm in." Yumi messaged Jeremy back.

'Both Sissi and I are good for this evening. 12:00 your time is good today, right?'

'Yes, it is, thanks.'

Yumi messaged her parents that she wasn't going to be home for dinner, then she checked the time on her phone. It was almost 12:30. "Aaaaaaand it's time for me to get to class. It's about that time for you too, isn't it?"

Sissi looked at her own phone and agreed. The two girls hugged and went their separate ways for the time being.

Class went by uneventfully, and a couple hours later Yumi was headed toward the library. Having reached the area with open tables around 3:00, she spotted Xavier starting to unpack his stuff.

"Hi, Xavier!" She greeted cheerfully, and he looked up.

"Hi, Yumi." He responded with an odd half-grin that Yumi had found was typical of him.

"Just so you know, I need to be on my way around 5:30," she informed him.

"That's ok, what's going on?" He asked curiously.

"I promised a friend of mine that I'd be able to talk this evening."

"Oh, is it that Ulrich guy you've mentioned before?"

Yumi rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Now that she was thinking about it, she remembered bringing him up several times to Xavier. She resolved to try to be more conscious of it. "No, his name's Jeremy. He's like a brother and sometimes he comes to me for advice."

"Oh, ok."

The two of them worked on their project, but before too long Yumi started noticing that something was off. Xavier's replies to some things she said seemed rushed, and he had been spacing out from time to time. That wasn't like him, and it kept getting worse. Around 5:00 curiosity got the better of her and she just had to know what was up. "Hey," she started, getting his attention. "Is something wrong? You seem a bit distracted."

"No, everything's ok," he replied, not making eye contact and just a little too quickly. Yumi tilted her head slightly, not sure what to make of it.

"Are you sure?" Asked Yumi. She was getting a little concerned.

"Uh huh!" he asserted. Yumi gave him a disbelieving leer and it looked like something caved inside him. "Can I... ask you something?"

"...sure..." she responded slowly, nodding once.

"Would you like to get dinner on Saturday?" He asked.

Yumi jerked back startled at first by the unexpected invitation, but a moment later she bit back a chuckle when she realized that this must be why he seemed a little nervous. Asking a girl out when he knew what happened to the last guy would have to be a little intimidating. While she had to commend his courage, she had to admit that she hadn't really felt much of an attraction to him. Though, in the last few weeks she had found that he really was a decent guy, so she figured it might be worth a shot. She smiled and replied, "sure, why not."

His face lit up. "Really! That's great!"

"However," Yumi started and his face fell a little. "We've still got a project to do and we can't let anything get in the way of that. If the date ends up being a bust, then no hard feelings and we stay just friends and classmates. So, no pressure, ok?"

That half-grin came to his face once more. "Alright, that sounds good!" He seemed much more at ease after that than he had been earlier.

When 5:30 rolled around, Yumi packed up her stuff and they said their goodbyes. Xavier also said that he was looking forward to Saturday before she left.

When Yumi left the Library, she messaged Sissi asking if she wanted her to pick up something to eat on her way over, which Sissi declined. Yumi still picked up a sandwich for herself from the cafeteria to eat on her way over.

Arriving at Sissi's place about five minutes before six, the two exchanged greetings quickly before sitting closely on the couch and put stuff on the coffee table so they could prop up Yumi's phone in order to talk hands free. Yumi messaged Jeremy.

'Ready'

Her phone started buzzing with his incoming call. Yumi accepted and placed her phone on the table just as Jeremy's face popped up on the screen.

"Hi, you two," he greeted.

"Hi," Yumi greeted in return. "What's up?"

"A lot, actually. Give me a second." Yumi's phone went haywire for a moment again, just like the last time he hacked it. Yumi wasn't surprised, but Sissi certainly was!

"What was that!" She exclaimed, just before Jeremy's head came back into view. He looked slightly to the side, as if looking directly at Sissi's image on his computer screen.

"I hacked Yumi's phone. It might just be me being paranoid, but prefer having a secure connection," he said nonchalantly.

Sissi looked towards Yumi. "Is this a normal thing?"

Yumi chuckled. "It's not normal, but it's not the first time either."

Sissi shook her head quickly to clear it of the shock. "You guys are crazy, you know that?"

Yumi chuckled again. "Maybe, but since Aelita's entire identity is fake, I'd say a little caution is a good idea."

"Plus, I don't want the possibility of anyone listening in and hearing us talk about Waldo and Anthea Schaeffer." Jeremy added

Sissi heaved a sigh. "Ok, you made your point." She brought a smile to her face indicating that she was ready to move the conversation forward. "What did you want to talk about Jeremy?"

He smiled. "I'm going to ask Aelita to marry me."

This wasn't news to Yumi, but she still grinned widely. Sissi on the other hand squealed and started bouncing up and down while shaking her fists in excitement. "That's wonderful Jeremy! I'd wish you luck, but you really aren't going to need it!" After calming down a little, she teasingly glared at Yumi. "You knew about this!?"

Yumi nodded with the grin still plastered on her face. "Yeah, I did. It's what I thought this was going to be about." She turned back to Jeremy. "Well, did you finally get a ring?" He bit his lip nervously and fiddled with his phone for a moment, then Sissi's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and saw that Jeremy had sent a few pictures of the ring he had gotten from Beatrix.

"Oh Jeremy, that is beautiful! She is going to love it!" Sissi gushed.

"She's right, you picked a good one!" Yumi agreed. The two girls gawked over the ring for another couple seconds before looking up to see that Jeremy still has that nervous look on his face. "What's wrong? It's gorgeous!"

"I didn't pick it out... or buy it... It was given to me." he admitted quietly while sheepishly looking away.

The two girls glanced at each other in confusion before looking back at Jeremy. "What do you mean?" asked Sissi.

"It was Aelita's mom's ring." The girls' mouths fell open and they just stared at Jeremy for a few seconds, then at the ring on the phone, then back to Jeremy.

"Where... did you get that?" Yumi asked slowly.

"You know when Aelita and me went to go visit her mom's grave?"

"Wait, you found out what happened to Aelita's mom!? Is there anything else I should know about!?" Sissi's gaze flitted back and forth between Jeremy and Yumi.

"Yeah, we went the day after we all got together for spring break. We've been wanting to tell you, but we were busy with my parents for the rest of the break. This semester has been especially brutal on Aelita. She hasn't had time for much other than schoolwork. She asked me to just tell you everything a couple days ago. I feel bad about talking about it without her. I would have probably waited anyway, but I just had to talk to you about the ring!"

"Ok, so tell us about it!" Yumi said impatiently.

While we were there, we happened to visit Aelita's mom at the same time as her grandparents." Again, both girls were speechless as Jeremy told them about Neville and Beatrix.

"Jeremy, that is amazing." Yumi let out when he was finished. "Aelita still has family, and you must have made quite an impression for her grandmother to trust you with her daughter's wedding ring!"

That troubled look crept back to Jeremy's face and he looked away from the screen. "Maybe, but I didn't do anything to earn it. I was just there... and..."

"Jeremy, stop," Sissi interrupted. "For as smart as you are, you can sometimes be really dumb! That ring will have more meaning to Aelita than any other that you could possibly give her!"

"And what's more," Yumi continued, "it's not about earning anything! Aelita loves _you_ , not for how much you worked during our fight with XANA, and _certainly_ not how much you spend on her." She started rubbing her temples.

"Jeremy," Sissi said softly, "you don't have anything to worry about. She's gonna love it, and where it came from is just going to make it extra special. I promise."

Having been reassured by the two people who he trusted most on the matter; Jeremy smiled slightly. "Thanks, you two."

No longer frustrated, Yumi stopped rubbing her head and looked back up. "Do you know where and when?"

Jeremy's grin grew wider. "I've got a couple ideas, but I think I'm going to keep it to myself."

The girls returned his grin. "That's fine. Good luck, but I'm sure you don't need it!" Sissi added enthusiastically.

"Again, thanks." The three sat in comfortable silence for a minute before Jeremy inhaled sharply, as if remembering something. "I almost forgot! Sissi, your memory program is coming along, though with Aelita so busy, progress has slowed a bit."

Sissi smiled in appreciation. "Thanks, but don't worry too much about it. It's not like they're going anywhere!"

"I know, but I thought you'd like an update."

"I appreciate it."

Jeremy glanced down for a second. "Well, I've got to get to class. Thanks for being able to talk, I needed it."

Yumi looked at him fondly. "You know you can talk to me anytime, Jeremy."

"Yeah, I know, thanks. I'll talk to you two later and definitely let you know how it goes!"

"Bye!" The girls said in unison and Jeremy ended the call.

"I've got to get going too. I've got a bunch of homework, and then I need to get to bed early. I was up late last night."

"Doing what?" Sissi asked.

"Doing homework and I spent some time on the line with Ulrich. The same way you said that you and Odd do sometimes."

Sissi's eyebrows raised in surprise. "When did you start doing that?"

"A few weeks ago."

Though Sissi had been supportive of them being just friends, ever since Yumi and Ulrich broke up she thought it would be wonderful if the two of them were able to get back together eventually. With the way they'd been carrying on lately, she was completely convinced that they could make it work if they wanted to! She briefly considered bringing it up, but decided it was a bad idea when Yumi was about to leave, so she let it go for now. "Alright, good for you, I'll see you later then."

The two girls hugged and Yumi left for home. On the way, she realized that she forgot to tell Sissi about the date with Xavier and figured she'd be able to do it later.

Later that night after going to bed, she had been too tired to realize it but the person she couldn't get off her mind wasn't Xavier, but rather someone much more familiar that had been occupying her thoughts and dreams more and more often.


	15. Another Date

_Mid June_

_Another Date_

The next two days seemed to crawl by for Yumi, but now it was Saturday afternoon. She had been looking forward to the date with Xavier, but for some reason she wasn't nervous this time like she had been with the date with Jacques. She had also talked to Sissi this morning at sparring, and Ulrich yesterday evening about it. Ulrich was worried at first, likely thinking about how her last date ended up. Yumi was able to assure him that this was not going to be a repeat of that mess. After that was supportive, though she could tell he was at least a little sad. She didn't like making him feel bad, but she kept telling herself that this was just part of moving on and his support really helped. Sissi's reaction, on the other hand had Yumi a little confused. She didn't try to lecture about boundaries with Ulrich this time, which was nice, but at the same time she sounded like she was hiding some disappointment behind her words of encouragement. Currently, she was just walking in her house after getting a post-sparring lunch with Sissi and she was greeted by her mother, Akiko. She was in the front room folding clothes.

"Hello Yumi, how was sparring?"

"It went well. Sissi just keeps getting better! I'm starting to think that I need to look into the Italian stuff she's started studying a while ago just to keep up!"

Akiko laughed. "I don't know when you think you'll be able to work on it with how busy your schedule is."

Yumi laughed as well. "Yeah, that's for sure! Speaking of schedules, I'm not going to be home for dinner tonight."

"Ok, that's fine. Where are you going?"

Yumi had expected her to ask, even though she hoped that she wouldn't... However, after the supercomputer was shut down, she refused to lie to her parents about things not Lyoko related. Instead she sheepishly looked away and reluctantly answered, "Xavier asked me to dinner..."

Akiko put down the towel she had been folding and didn't pick up another. Instead she looked at her daughter with interest. "As in, on a date?" She asked evenly.

Yumi squirmed a little. "Yeah..."

Having gotten Yumi to fess up, Akiko picked up another towel to fold. "You've said some good things about him, but I didn't know you liked him."

Surprised as she was by her mother's easy acceptance of her evening plans, Yumi was quite pleased about it. She decided to continue filling her mom in on the details. "I'm really don't know if I do or not, but he's a nice guy and it's just a date. If it doesn't go well, we'll just leave it at that. I made it clear that it can't interfere with our class work no matter how it goes." She rubbed the back of her neck. "You're taking this a bit better than I expected."

Akiko chuckled and smiled at her daughter. "Yumi, you're twenty. I'd be more worried if you didn't go out once in a while. Besides, I know you were upset when you lost touch with Ulrich so I'm glad to see you're doing well enough to move on." Yumi felt a little knot in her stomach. The only one in her family that knew she was talking with Ulrich after the breakup was Hiroki, and she was pretty sure that even he didn't know how often it was! Her mother continued, too busy folding towels to notice her daughter's unease, "in any case, it seems like you've got things well in hand, so I hope you have a good time." She lifted her nose a little and sniffed the air. "You might want to get cleaned up before heading out though. Sissi must have really given you a workout!" She teased with a laugh.

"Mom!" Yumi blushed in embarrassment before leaving her mother to the laundry and heading up to take a bath.

After luxuriating in the tub for a while to help with her aching muscles from sparring, Yumi got dressed, then checked her phone to look at the time and saw that it was about 2:00. She also had a couple of messages, one from Ulrich, and one from Xavier. She checked the one from Xavier first.

'We never really came up with a plan for tonight, so would you like to meet at the front doors of the student center around 5:00?'

Yumi smiled slightly before responding.

'That works for me.'

Next, she checked Ulrich's message. She was touched by its contents.

'Hey Yumi, have a good time tonight.'

It was simple, but the fact that he sent it unsolicited spoke volumes. She sent a message in response.

'Thank you, Ulrich. Your support really means a lot to me.'

Yumi grinned widely as she sent the message. Ulrich had always been a good friend, and a good boyfriend when they were dating. Since they broke up though, he had become a _really_ good friend. She was pretty sure that is was genuine too and not just a ploy to try to get her back.

She walked towards the door and opened it to see a very surprised Hiroki standing on the other side with his hand raised as if to knock. "Uhh... hi sis..."

Yumi's raised her eyes in amusement and her grin turned into a smirk. "Let me guess, Italian homework?"

He glanced down sheepishly and noticed Yumi's phone still in hand before responding, "uh huh."

Yumi checked the time again. "I've got a couple hours, but then I'm headed out."

"Hanging out with Sissi?" He asked innocently.

"No... Xavier asked me to dinner."

"Oh... ok." His eyebrows furrowed in surprise.

_Ding ding_

Yumi's phone interrupted them with a new message. Glancing down she saw that it was Ulrich, and the contents made her grin widely again, despite Hiroki's presence.

'I'll always support you; you know that.'

"Is that him?" Asked Hiroki.

"No, it's not." The smile fell from her face, though traces of it lingered while she braced herself for him trying to pry.

"Ok. I'll be in the front room getting my homework out." Hiroki's seeming disinterest took Yumi completely by surprise as he left the room. On his way out, he grinned almost as widely as Yumi had been. There was only one person that had ever been able to give his sister that warm glow that he had seen on her face when he walked in, when she read the message, and any other time that he happened to walk in on her while she was on the phone. He figured that her going on a date with someone else was very unlikely to change that. He stopped by his room to grab his homework and met his sister in the front room where they spent the next couple hours working on his homework.

It was about 4:30, and Hiroki's homework had just gotten finished, and he wished her a good time on her date, though he hoped and expected it would be a dud.

About twenty minutes later, Yumi was waiting outside the double door entrance to the student center for Xavier, just as they agreed. Amidst the drone of conversations being held between students walking by, Yumi began to hear the hum of a motor. Looking in the direction the sound was coming from, she saw a blue scooter getting closer and eventually it pulled up to the curb and its driver stepped off. When he pulled off the visored helmet Yumi was surprised to see that it was Xavier!

"Hi, Yumi!" He greeted.

"Uhh, hey! I didn't know you had a scooter."

"Yeah, I live too far from campus to walk." He pulled the seat up, revealing a storage compartment and pulled out a matching pink helmet and Jacket.

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "I hope you don't expect me to wear that..." not pleased with the color choice at all.

Xavier chuckled. "It's my sister's. She's about your size and said I could borrow them. I won't ride without protective gear, and that extends to anyone riding with me. I have an uncle who got in an accident on his motorcycle a long time ago and he has horrible scarring all over his arms and back. If he had been wearing a jacket, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad."

"Couldn't we just walk somewhere?" Yumi pleaded.

"I've already got a reservation for a nice restaurant in the next town over. Besides, I think you'll enjoy the ride!"

Yumi narrowed her eyes. "Ok, fine. Give it here!" Xavier grinned and handed her the jacket. After putting it on, she looked at her reflection in the glass doors of the student center and wished she hadn't. Turning back to Xavier she snatched the helmet from him and put that on while resolving to get some gear of her own in black if this ended up happening often! Xavier mounted the scooter first and held it steady while she got on behind him. She held onto his waist for balance and then they were off.

Xavier seemed to be a really good driver, so she wasn't really afraid, but neither did she particularly enjoy the ride either. There was a large bump on the back of the seat that went a long way towards making her feel more secure, but she was strongly reminded of why she preferred the overwing when on Lyoko!

After about ten minutes of riding, they arrived at a small downtown area where Xavier parked along the sidewalk. After dismounting the scooter, Yumi couldn't get the helmet and jacket off fast enough, which made Xavier chuckle!

"You might not like the color, but it does look good on you!"

Yumi's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're just saying that..."

Xavier's chuckled again, harder this time. "Ok, maybe a little bit!" He took a breath to clear the laughter and stowed the jackets and helmets in the scooter's storage compartment before gesturing down the sidewalk. "Well, shall we go?" Feeling better now that all the pink was out of sight, she started walking in the direction that he was indicating. As she walked past, he gently placed his hand on the small of her back guiding her toward an Italian restaurant a couple of doors down from where they parked. The touch wasn't inappropriate nor particularly unwelcome, but the gesture was unfamiliar and would take a little getting used to.

Once they were inside and seated, Yumi looked at the menu and puzzled over all the parmesan's, marsala's, carbonara's before leaning in closer to Xavier. "I've never had Italian food before..."

He let out a short laugh. "Are you serious?" She nodded. "Then you're missing out!"

"Maybe, but I have no idea what any of these things are!"

"Ok, fair enough." Xavier turned thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "Do you like mushrooms?" Yumi nodded. "Tomatoes?" They weren't her favorite, but she didn't mind them, so she nodded again with a shrug. "Noodles?"

Yumi snorted. "I'm Japanese..."

"Flour noodles, not rice noodles..."

Yumi inhaled sharply as if to retort but stopped and paused! "Good point, I'm not sure... probably."

Xavier grinned his half-smile again. "Well, how about chicken." Yumi nodded again. "They've got good Chicken Marsala here. You should try that. It also pairs nicely with Chardonnay.*"

"Ok, I'll do that, but I think I'll pass on the wine. What about you?"

"I'm going with the veal Parmesan, it's my favorite. I'm not getting anything to drink either, not when I've got a passenger!"

The waiter walked up to take their orders, and the conversation came to a close. After he left, Xavier took the conversation in a different direction.

"So, tell me about yourself. I'd like to get to know you better, but right now I only know that you want to be a languages teacher, you keep in touch with some of your friends from high school, and you could definitely kick my butt!"

The last one made Yumi laugh. After a few seconds she calmed down. "Anything in particular you want to know?"

"How about you tell me about the friends you keep in touch with. I already know of Ulrich and Jeremy, but are there any others?"

Yumi smiled warmly at the thought of her friends and pulled out her phone. "Yeah, give me a minute." She started flipping through pictures until she found one with the whole group, preferably one where her and Ulrich weren't _too_ close. She was on a date after all! Finding one that fit the criteria, she showed the picture to Xavier and started pointing at her friends while identifying them. "There's Aelita, Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi. We all went to Kadic Academy down the road and we were inseparable in high school."

Xavier pointed out Sissi. "That's the girl you walk home with, isn't it?"

"Uh huh! Her and Odd are engaged, and I'm her Maid of Honor."

"Hey, that's cool! Congratulations to them!"

Yumi chuckled. "It's kind of funny really. For the longest time Odd and Sissi couldn't stand each other but looking back we all see how much they fit. None of ever expected how good they would be for each other!"

Xavier grinned. "Funny how that works out sometimes." He looked back down at the picture and pointed at Aelita. "She doesn't look like the sort of person who would dye her hair an unnatural color like pink."

Yumi laughed again. "That's because she's not, and she doesn't." Xavier shot her a confused look. "It is natural and grows that way, but we have no idea why. Her mother's hair was also pink."

The confusion on Xavier's face melted into disbelief. "No way, you're kidding me!"

"No, I'm not," Yumi replied nonchalantly before another grin overtook her face. "Jeremy's going to be proposing to her soon."

"Well good luck to him!" I imagine that's what he wanted to talk to you about the other day then?"

"Yep! Those two deserve happiness together so much after everything they've been through." Yumi stated without thinking about it.

"What do you mean by that?" Xavier asked.

Yumi's eyes widened as she realized the can of worms that she might have opened. Her mind raced, trying to find a good enough cover that didn't involve Lyoko and after a few awkward seconds she came up with something that wasn't a blatant lie. "Aelita's an orphan."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with Jeremy."

"They originally met..." Yumi paused briefly, before thinking up something plausible. "Online. They quickly had a connection and Jeremy put a lot of effort into securing her a place at Kadic and allowing her to live a normal life." She hoped that Xavier didn't notice the hesitation. If he did, he didn't let it show.

Xavier looked confused again. "How did he pull that off, and how old was he?"

Yumi thought quickly again. "They were both twelve." Xavier's confusion grew even more obvious. "They're both brilliant so he was able to help her secure enough scholarships for her to attend." Yumi figured that was probably close enough to the truth.

His confusion melted away somewhat. "I guess that makes sense." He looked back at the picture and noticed Ulrich arm was casually around Yumi's waist. Yumi hadn't noticed it at first glance because it wasn't obvious. Xavier didn't say anything, but he had noticed that her tone of voice always got a little softer, gentler even when speaking of Ulrich.

"So, what about Ulrich? Given that you talk to him every week, you two must be pretty close."

Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help it when a little bit of a smile crept onto her face. "Yeah. He's a good friend, and I've known him for a long time. He's in Germany for school on a soccer scholarship." She didn't really want to elaborate on their relationship history right now. Fate seemed to be on her side though as their food conveniently came right then.

Her dish of pasta, mushrooms, and chicken in a red sauce looked quite appetizing. She didn't want to delay trying her food but didn't want to waste the opportunity to change the subject. "So, what about you? Any friends that you keep in touch with?" Only after she asked did she start eating her own dinner. It was delicious.

Xavier looked down at his food and absently swirled some pasta around while he answered. "Not really. I was... kinda awkward when I started high school, so I didn't really have friends. I never lost the stigma either. College was a bit of a fresh start."

Yumi looked at him sympathetically. "I know what that's like. I didn't have any friends either for a long time." _Not until Ulrich took me to the factory..._ she shook her head to clear the errant thought out of her head. "What about family?"

Xavier looked up with a much more pleasant expression. "I've got a brother and a sister. I'm the youngest. We all try to stay close, but my brother Bernard is an engineer in the states and my sister Alice works in the medical field in Ireland. My parents live a good bit north of the school, and I in an apartment just down the road from here." Yumi shot him a small glare over her food. He smirked in return. "Relax, that wasn't an invitation. I know better than that!"

Her glare melted and she smirked back at him. "Good."

The rest of the meal was filled with stories about families, their respective plans for the future, and griping about being overburdened with classwork!

Dinner came to an end and they both declined dessert, though not without Yumi telling an anecdote about Odd's eating habits that had Xavier laughing a lot. When the bill came, Yumi was rather impressed that he smoothly took it and paid for it with neither complaint, nor fanfare. When the two walked out of the restaurant Xavier held the door open for her and placed his hand on the small of her back again as they walked toward his scooter. Yumi scowled when he pulled out the pink helmet and jacket again but put them on without complaint.

"I can drop you back off at the student center, or I could take you home if you'd like." He asked just after they mounted the scooter.

Yumi thought about it for a few seconds, but quickly realized that her family already knew she was on a date so there wasn't anything to hide! "How about you just take me home. Just head to the school and I'll guide you from there."

"You got it!" Xavier exclaimed just before revving the motor to life.

When they took off, Yumi still agreed with her earlier feelings of non-enjoyment about riding. Something that didn't cross her mind earlier but did now was that she almost never rode on the overbike with Ulrich and right now she wished that at some point she had. Thinking about this, she almost leaned forward into a sort of hug on Xavier but remembered just in time where she was and who she was with. Their timely arrival at the school and her need to give directions thankfully gave her enough distraction to clear her mind and shortly after they made it to Yumi's house.

The two of them dismounted and Yumi quickly doffed the horridly colored protective gear, hopefully before Hiroki saw it. Xavier put it away and escorted her to the door. "You know Yumi, I had a really good time today."

Yumi let a slight grin come to her face. "I did too." Xavier leaned over and gave her a small kiss on the cheek before turning around back to his scooter.

Yumi walked in the house and her parents were sitting in the front room playing Go. "Hi Yumi, did you have a good time?" Akiko asked.

Yumi smiled. "Yeah, I did."

Takeo looked up in confusion. "Where were you?"

"She was on a date with Xavier, dear." Akiko answered for Yumi.

"And I get the feeling he's going to ask me on another one again sometime soon." Yumi stated before going upstairs.

Just after walking past Hiroki's room, he called out to her, "hey Yumi!" Stepping back, she poked her head into the doorway. "Were you wearing…"

"Shut up Hiroki!" She interrupted with a glare.

"Ok, ok." He replied defensively. "How did it go?"

Yumi dropped the glare. "It went well."

"Alright, good to hear. Thanks for the help with my homework earlier. That's all."

"Ok, then I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Night Sis."

She got to her room, got ready and crawled into her warm blankets. As she went to sleep, she thought that she was looking forward to telling Sissi about the date. She was a little anxious about telling Ulrich, but she knew that he would be supportive so it would be alright. However, with that thought she ended up yet again falling asleep thinking about the brown-haired young man…


	16. The Sunrise

_Late June_

_The Sunrise_

Aelita woke up and opened her eyes, blinking a few times in the darkness. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table in the dorm room and smiled. It was 4:53 and the alarm was set to go off at 5:00. She scooted her back closer to Jeremy, whose arm was draped around her middle. Putting her hand in his, she tangled their fingers and sighed contentedly. She loved when she was able to spend a few minutes like this before they got up on Saturday mornings and bask in the warmth of Jeremy's sleeping form before he woke with the alarm. The long hours of studying they put in on Friday nights normally had them falling asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows, so they seldom got to enjoy snuggling for long.

"Good morning, Aelita," Jeremy whispered, surprising her slightly. He almost never woke up before the alarm.

"Morning Jeremy," Aelita murmured, quickly getting over her surprise. He pulled her even closer and the two of them enjoyed a few more minutes of morning cuddles before it was time to get up.

_Beep beep beep beep_

They both groaned a little as Aelita reached over to turn off the alarm and turn on the bedside table lamp. The small fixture illuminated the rest of Jeremy's room and the two of them got out of bed and stretched a bit. Aelita picked up her overnight bag and caught a glimpse of Jeremy smiling at her. She blushed slightly at his staring.

"What is it Jeremy?"

"It's nothing." He grabbed some clothes and headed out to the bathroom to change, allowing her some privacy. Aelita thought for a moment, remembering that he kept stealing glances at her last night even more than usual too. She continued to ponder Jeremy's strange behavior while she changed out of her PJ's and into normal clothes then sat back on the bed to wait for him.

_Knock knock_

Walking over to the door, she opened it, letting him in. "Ready to go?"

"Not yet." He stepped closer and kissed her deeply for a few seconds. When he pulled away, he was grinning like an idiot. Aelita felt herself smiling widely too. Advances like that from Jeremy weren't particularly common, so while she trusted him completely, now she _really_ knew something was up. However, if it involved being kissed like that a little more often, she'd gladly deal with whatever it was! Without saying more, he took her hand and led her from the room.

When they were just about to leave the complex, Jeremy stopped and gasped.

"What is it, Jeremy?" Aelita asked.

"I'll be back in a second," Jeremy blurted it hastily before running back inside. Again, Aelita found herself wondering about his strange behavior. A minute later he came back out. At the questioning look on her face, he said sheepishly, "erm... I forgot my wallet."

Aelita wasn't really convinced as it wasn't like Jeremy to forget things. "You've been acting kinda strange Jeremy, is something the matter?"

"No nothing's wrong everything's great!" Aelita continued to be a little skeptical of how quickly he answered, but she let it go in favor of seeing how this was going to play out. He took her hand again and they started heading out for their Saturday morning coffee shop date.

They made their way quietly, both enjoying the warm stillness of the pre-dawn weekend morning until Jeremy stopped and started guiding her down a way that she wasn't familiar with. Aelita was confused and getting even more suspicious than before.

"Where are we going, Jeremy?" She asked.

He grinned sheepishly. "I want to show you something one of my classmates told me about. I think you're going to love it, but we have to hurry."

Aelita giggle a little. "Ok then, if you insist!" She took hold of his arm with both hands, continuing to allow herself to be swept away as a willing participant in his unusual behavior. She normally thought she had him figured out, but once in a while he surprised her in pleasant ways. As they walked, she thought back to the time he'd sent her the postcard from 'Canada' and how much that meant to her. Now if only Jim hadn't interrupted their moment when she found out it was he had been the sender... she found herself grinning at the memory and glanced up at him fondly.

They shortly arrived at a small park-like area overlooking the Charles River with a view of the Bunker Hill memorial bridge. The Boston city skyline was just starting to become visible in the twilight to the right of the river, as were the lower buildings of east Cambridge to the left.

"Just in time," Jeremy said grinning. He sat down on one of the park benches and had her sit next to him. There was a cool breeze coming off the river that made Aelita shiver slightly, and Jeremy pulled her into his side to help keep her warm.

"Not that this isn't nice, but what are we doing here?" Aelita asked, glancing up at her boyfriend again.

Jeremy presses his lips to the side of her forehead eliciting another smile from her. "Just wait..." he said cryptically while gesturing toward the river.

Aelita was looking out toward the river when it happened... it was as if the water and sky had exploded and melted together. The brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows blended in the cloudless sky, and the water shimmered and sparkled with the rays of dawn's first light. The pristine white towers of the bridge rose majestically over the river, illuminated by the backdrop of nature's canvas. Aelita had never seen a sunrise on the water before, and it left her completely awestruck. "It's beautiful," she gasped out breathlessly.

"Not as beautiful as you," Jeremy whispered back, causing Aelita's cheeks to warm. He was really pouring it on thick this morning and she loved it!

They sat in silence, watching the sun creep over the horizon, reflecting in the gently flowing waters of the Charles River.

When it got too bright to look at, Jeremy stood up, pulling Aelita to her feet as well.

Aelita wrapped her arms around Jeremy, hugging him tightly. "Thank you for bringing me here, Jeremy." After what seemed like forever she pulled away, and Jeremy saw traces of tears in her eyes as she smiled up at him in appreciation.

"You're welcome Aelita." He nibbled on his bottom lip nervously for a few moments while Aelita looked at him curiously.

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "What is it, Jeremy?"

He put his hand over hers. "I meant what I said." Aelita tilted her head, not knowing what he was referring to. "You're more beautiful than that sunrise." She blushed again and he continued. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, inside and out. You are so smart, so sweet, and so amazing, and I love you so much." Aelita gasped and held her breath as she figured out what was happening. Meanwhile, Jeremy took a trembling deep breath and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box... the box he got from Beatrix Hopper. He knelt to the ground and opened it toward her.

"Aelita, will you marry me?"

Aelita's tears that started during the sunrise increased their flow dramatically, and for a few seconds that was all she could do: stand there and cry. When she finally regained barely enough composure to answer, she let out sobbing, "of course I'll marry you!" And nearly tackled Jeremy in a tight hug.

Jeremy stood up and they adjusted their hug accordingly but remained firmly grasped in each other's embrace for several minutes. Eventually they let go and Aelita grasped the hand that Jeremy held the box with and turned it so she could look at the ring again. The diamonds were exploding with fire from the light of the sunrise.

"Jeremy, it's beautiful." Aelita cooed.

Jeremy pulled his hand away and she looked up at him in confusion. He gulped. "Aelita, I need to tell you something." His obvious nervousness causing her to become anxious as well. "Your grandmother gave me this ring after you went to sleep."

"What? Why?"

Jeremy gulped again. "I told her I was going to propose to you..." he paused for a moment, and Aelita felt her heart pounding while she waited for him to continue. "It was your mother's." Aelita gasped and covered her mouth with her hand in shock. Seeing this, Jeremy's heart fell, and he looked down and to the side. "I can get you a different one if you..."

Recovering, Aelita cupped his cheek with her right hand, interrupting him. "Jeremy don't be silly. I don't want a different one, this ring is special." She stroked his cheek a few times with her thumb and he looked back at her. Relief flooded Jeremy and Aelita held out her left hand. He took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked down at it for a few seconds before she sprung to her tiptoes while flinging her arms around Jeremy's neck. He was surprised for a moment as his lips were captured by hers, but quickly found himself eagerly returning the kiss until they heard someone wolf-whistle at them. They quickly pulled away from each other, both of them a furious shade of red from being 'caught.' Looking in the direction of the whistle, they saw a man jogging past who smirked and flashed Jeremy a thumbs up as he passed.

"Umm... want to go to the coffee shop now?" Jeremy asked awkwardly when the guy was out of earshot. He was still blushing.

Aelita watched the guy round a corner before looking back to Jeremy and smiled, her cheeks returning to their normal color. "Yes, I think I would." She looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled even wider. "Now I'll always be carrying something of both you and my mother." She took his hand and they started walking toward the coffee shop.

"I can't believe you told my grandparents that you were going to propose to me the first time we met them!" Aelita exclaimed on the way.

"Actually, Neville was already asleep..." Aelita rolled her eyes at his matter-of-fact-ing but waited for him to continue. "But Beatrix asked me to look after you when they were gone. They are getting old, after all." Aelita frowned at the thought of losing the only family she probably had left so soon after being reunited, but she couldn't deny the possibility. "I told her I was going to propose and asked if they could do their best to hold out until your wedding. I know that would mean a lot to you."

Aelita's frown melted into a small smile again at her _fiancé_ 's thoughtfulness... and the fact that now Jeremy _was_ her fiancé! "You're right, it would. Then she gave you the ring, right?"

"Yes, and she also told me to take the money I had saved up to buy a ring myself and make the honeymoon extra special!" Jeremy looked to her and grinned. "So, you're going to need to start thinking about where you're going to want to go!" Aelita looked to him and returned the grin before looking forward again.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Yumi and Sissi knew that I was going to ask, but not when. I was nervous about the ring, so I asked their opinion. They both assured me I had nothing to worry about."

"They were right. I love you, Jeremy."

"I love you too, Aelita."

They had no more words for the moment, so they finished the walk to the coffee shop in the comfortable silence in each other's company. Both of them, however, were thinking about and looking forward to a future with each other.

They arrived at the coffee shop and walked in. Due to their later than usual arrival, there was a little more of a line than they were used to, but the wait still wasn't too bad. The barista working the front counter was a blonde woman in her early twenties named Amanda, and since the geniuses had been coming every Saturday morning for the last several months, they had started a casual rapport with her.

"I was starting to think you two weren't going to show!" Amanda teased.

Aelita put her hands on the counter without thinking about what she was displaying. "We took a little detour this morning."

Amanda spied the ring on Aelita's hand and pointed dramatically. "What is THAT!" She practically yelled, drawing the attention of quite a few of the other patrons.

Both geniuses blushed and grinned. "The reason for the detour," Jeremy replied.

Amanda glanced at the short line behind the two. "Alright, I've got other customers right now, but when things die down a bit, I want details!" She exclaimed as quietly as she could manage. "The usual?" She suddenly asked and Jeremy and Aelita nodded. "It's on me today, Alright!" The Einsteins grinned as Amanda called out their order. When it was ready, they collected their drinks and sat down at their usual table, which was conveniently unoccupied.

Having gotten their schoolwork done the night before, and no other plans for the rest of the day, the two enjoyed their drinks and started excitedly talking about their possibilities for the future while waiting for Amanda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny enough, when I started writing this story, I wasn't even going to write this chapter and just have it happen off screen, but I had enough people state that they hoped to see it that I changed my mind. Also funny enough, I was originally going to have Jeremy propose at the coffee shop where him and Aelita were able to reconnect again after their slump. While writing, I found that would have made for a really short chapter, so I thought about having some sort of romantic prelude. Eventually I thought I'd look up the surrounding scenery near MIT and came across the Bunker Hill memorial bridge and google image searched it with 'sunrise' attached and found that would make for an idea proposal spot. Seriously, look it up, it's gorgeous!


	17. Sparring with an Audience

_Late July_

_Sparring with an Audience_

It was Saturday morning and Yumi woke up early. Picking up her phone, she groaned when she saw that there was about a half hour before her alarm went off. Not enough time to get back to sleep, but enough that missing it was going to be noticeable, especially after staying up late talking to Ulrich again. She also saw that she had a message from Xavier.

Yumi's groaned and swung her legs over the side of the bed with an accompanying yawn. After shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of the grogginess, she checked the message.

'Would it be ok if I watched you and Sissi sparring sometime? I've always thought that martial arts were pretty cool. That, and I'd like to meet your friends, if that's ok with you.'

Yumi didn't mind so she sent a message to Sissi.

'Would you care if Xavier comes to sparring to watch?'

Standing up, she stretched and started to get changed when her phone buzzed with Sissi's reply.

'Talking with Odd, call in 15 min?'

Yumi smiled, thinking about when Sissi told her how the two of them put so much effort into their relationship before she sent her own reply.

'That's fine.'

Yumi finished getting dressed headed downstairs. The scent of tea being brewed alerted her that someone was already up too. Yumi headed to the kitchen to see who it was.

"Morning Yumi!" Her mother greeted. "You're up early for a Saturday."

"Yeah, I just kinda woke up on my own."

"Would you like some tea?" She offered cheerfully.

Yumi thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I think I'm going to need coffee this morning."

Akiko narrowed her eyes in concern. "I hope your insomnia isn't coming back."

"No... it's my own fault. I stayed up too late." Yumi said with a yawn.

"Yumi..." Akiko scolded gently. "You know better than that. Were you on the phone again?"

"Yeah..." Akiko smirked, incorrectly assuming that it was Xavier that Yumi had been talking to.

_Ring ring ring ring_

Yumi's phone started ringing and she pulled it out. "It's Sissi," she informed her mother and answered it. Walking up the stairs back to her room, she was grateful for her friend's timing and told Sissi to give her a minute.

"I'm going to make you some coffee and put it in a to-go mug. After that, I'm going to the store." Akiko called out from the kitchen.

"Thanks mom, I'll see you later! Don't forget that I'm headed out to do more work on the project with Xavier later." Yumi answered back before shutting her door.

Sitting down at her desk, Yumi put the phone to her ear. "Morning Sissi, what's up?"

"Morning," Her friend greeted in return, though not very cheerfully. "I don't have any problem with Xavier watching, but first I think I need to know some things because I'd rather not put my foot in mouth!"

"Huh?" Yumi grunted in confusion. "Like what?"

"Like are you dating? Friends? Or what? You've told me that you two have had a couple more dates since the first one went well, but other than that You've been pretty quiet on the subject."

Yumi thought for a second before answering. "I guess we're just friends that have gone on a few dates, but that's all for now."

"Ok, now how about Aelita? Have you mentioned her at all, or about her past? I just want to make sure that our story lines up."

Yumi was starting to get frustrated with the interrogation, but she conceded that this one was important. "I told him that Aelita's an orphan and Jeremy helped her get enough scholarships to attend Kadic after they met online. He also knows that they're now engaged." Yumi paused before irritatingly adding, "anything else?"

"Hmm." Sissi seemed to think for a moment before asking quietly, "does he know about your history with Ulrich...?"

Yumi squirmed in her seat. "No... just that we've been really good friends for a long time."

Yumi heard Sissi sigh. "You know if this goes anywhere, you're going to have to tell him about it, and you're probably not going to be able to talk to Ulrich as much as you do now." She seemed even less cheerful than before for some reason, but Yumi was more irritated with the implication of her words and groaned audibly.

"Another lecture about boundaries?" She said with an eye roll.

"No, simple practicality. You'll have a relationship to work on and probably won't have the time," Sissi retorted, and Yumi's stomach knotted at the undeniable possibility of cutting down on her phone-time with Ulrich. Still, she attempted to shrug it off in the name of 'moving on.'

"I guess if that's the case, then so be it." Yumi heard Sissi sigh again before she replied.

"Ok then. Anyway, go ahead and tell Xavier that he's welcome to watch, and I'll see you shortly."

"Bye." Yumi hung up the phone and took a moment to wonder about Sissi's odd behavior. She definitely wasn't happy about something. Yumi hoped that there her and Odd weren't having issues, but whatever it was Yumi assumed that it wasn't her business, so she put it out of her mind. After scrolling down to his name, she sent a message to Xavier.

'Yeah that's fine. Do you know where Kadic Academy is?

A minute later, her phone buzzed.

'Yes'

'Meet me at the front gates when you can this morning.' Yumi instructed and headed out.

When she arrived at Kadic, Xavier was already there.

"Morning, Yumi!"

"Morning!" She greeted in return before he walked up and gave her a hug. He'd kissed her cheek at the end of each previous date, but this was the first time he'd gotten this close and Yumi kinda liked it... even if he was a bit on the skinny side.

After they broke the hug, Xavier asked, "why did you have me meet you here?"

"Sissi's father is the principal here, and he lets us use the gym when it's not being used for class. He also knows me because I went here too," Yumi explained. "Come on." She led him to the gym and entered to find Sissi already there stretching.

"Morning guys. You must Xavier." She greeted, coming out of a lunge. She walked over and held her hand out to offer him a handshake. She was acting more cheerful than earlier, but for some reason Yumi thought it still felt off... like she was faking it.

"Yep, that's me." Xavier replied, shaking the hand that was offered while Yumi started doing some warm-ups herself. A few minutes later, the two girls squared off and their audience was forgotten.

They started off rather lightly, which was their usual, before they really started getting into it. Even though Yumi didn't really know how to _use_ Abrazare, she had certainly faced it enough in the last several months to know what to avoid. Even so, Sissi's mix of that and Pencak Silat, combined with her size advantage made her a fearsome opponent. Yumi, on the other hand, had real combat experience and could channel her old Lyoko battle ferocity in a way that Sissi couldn't match. They quickly escalated the intensity and were furiously punching, chopping, kicking, and dodging, with Sissi attempting to grapple when opportunity struck. Sometimes it was Yumi that came out on top, sometimes it was Sissi. Regardless of who was winning the current bout, the whole spectacle had Xavier completely slack-jawed and rather intimidated.

The two girls were going at it pretty consistently for about an hour before Yumi fell victim to a particularly brutal throw, immediately followed by her managing to catch Sissi in the stomach with a well-placed kick from the ground preventing any follow-up attacks. Sissi dropped to a knee and struggling to catch her breath, while Yumi rolled onto her back and did the same for a few minutes.

"Want to call that last one a draw?" Sissi joked.

Yumi grinned. "Yeah, sounds good to me. I think I've gotten beat up enough for one day."

Sissi chuckled and helped Yumi to her feet. "Yeah, me too."

"You guys are really good! How long have you been doing this?" The girls had completely forgotten about their spectator!

Sissi smirked and responded first. "Thanks. It's quite a rush!"

"Yeah, it certainly is!" Exclaimed Yumi. "I started when I was in elementary school."

"I started in early high school in an attempt to impress Ulrich." Yumi felt a knot form in her stomach as Xavier looked at her.

"Your friend Ulrich?" He asked.

Yumi was about to answer, but Sissi beat her to it. "Yeah. I had a major crush on him for years, but he was never interested in me." Yumi's knot got even tighter. "Eventually I gave up on him and ended up falling for his roommate!" She laughed. "It's funny, if someone would have told me back then that I was going to end up marrying the guy I would have had them committed!"

Yumi let out a small sigh of relief as Sissi smoothly covered, and Xavier laughed. "Yeah, Yumi told me that you two couldn't stand each other for the longest time, what changed?"

"Something happened, and he reached out to me. We became friends after that, and eventually fell in love," she said tenderly. "Don't bother asking what that thing was, because that's between him and me. Even my own Maid of Honor," she gestured to Yumi, "doesn't know the whole story."

Xavier grinned widely at the sentimental story. "That's sweet."

"Well, we've got to go get cleaned up," said Yumi, addressing Xavier, "but I'll meet you at the school later like we planned."

"Would you like me to give you a ride home?" Xavier offered, but Yumi was _not_ going to let Sissi see her in pink riding gear, no matter what. She would never hear the end of it!

"It's nice of you to offer, but I really need a shower and I don't think you want me to get your sister's gear all gross."

"Umm... ok, fair enough. Same place at the library then?"

Yumi grinned slightly. "Yes. I'll see you there."

The three of them left the building and Xavier parted from the girls.

"Well, he definitely seems to like you," Sissi remarked. "What about you?"

"He's a very nice guy," Yumi answered.

"That doesn't answer my question," Sissi huffed. "Let's put it a different way: if he asked you out officially, what would you say?"

"I'd probably say yes." Yumi replied flatly, starting to get a little irritated with Sissi's pestering.

"Ok then," Sissi said. She definitely agreed that Xavier seemed like a very nice guy but didn't really see much chemistry between him Yumi. Figuring that probing further would probably really get on Yumi's nerves, she let it go. The rest of the walk was uneventful and the two spent their remaining time together talking about fighting techniques.

Arriving home, Yumi' found a note on the counter saying that her parents were out and apparently Hiroki had finally asked Milly on a date and they were out to lunch! She marveled at how those two moved even slower than Jeremy and Aelita! Yumi headed upstairs to draw up a bath and soak her aching muscles, just another part of her Saturday routine. Finishing the bath, she got dressed and left before anyone got home.

Meeting Xavier in the Library on campus, the two got to work on their project like usual, but Xavier seemed kinda spacey again, similar to how he was before asking Yumi out on their first date. Like before, a couple hours later Yumi just had to find out what was going on.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, why do you ask?" Like before, his reply came a bit rushed.

"It just seems like there's something on your mind. You seem to be having a hard time focusing."

Xavier blushed. "Ok... there is something..."

"Alright... What is it?" Yumi asked, propping her elbow on the table they were working at.

Xavier took a deep breath before speaking slowly. "Would you... would you go out with me?"

Remembering her walk with Sissi earlier, Yumi couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the timing before giving her answer, "yes, I would." Xavier's face lit up and his smile practically reached his ears.

"Great!" He exclaimed while Yumi grinned slightly at his excitement. "Could I ask you something else?"

"Sure."

"After we leave here, would you like to head to my place? I can make us dinner and then maybe we can watch a movie." Yumi leered at him suspiciously. "I know what that look is for," he said confidently, "and I promise I won't pressure you into anything that you're not comfortable with." He leered right back at her in a teasing sort of way. "That includes coming to my place. We can do something else if you want."

"That's just because you know I can kick your butt." Yumi joked, trying to tease him back. Xavier, on the other hand dropped the grin and looked suddenly serious.

"I know you can, but that's not why," he began and Yumi tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "It's because I respect you. You're smart, pretty, independent, and _very_ strong. I consider myself very lucky that you accepted my request to be your boyfriend.

Yumi blinked a few times. She was completely taken aback by his compliments, his declaration of no-pressure, and the fact that her and Xavier were really boyfriend and girlfriend now really sank in. It felt a bit strange now that it was official, but she figured that would wear off. Still, she was even more reassured about his intentions than before, so she smiled.

"You know what, I'd love to have dinner at your place," she told him and the large smile he had earlier returned. She got her phone out and messaged her mom telling her that she was going to be out a bit later to keep her from worrying, and then the two of them worked on their group project for about another hour before calling it quits for the afternoon.

They headed out and put their school stuff in the compartment that Xavier stored the hated protective gear and they were on their way after suiting up for riding. At the end of another mildly unpleasant ride they arrived at a nice-looking apartment complex.

"Here we are, home sweet home," Xavier said guiding Yumi to his door. He opened it and let her in first and for a brief moment she had a feeling of panic and Deja Vu when she heard Xavier shut and lock the door behind them. She whirled around to see him just about to start taking off his jacket. He paused at her sudden movement. "Is something wrong?" He asked. The concern in his voice reminded her of his promise and dispelled her panic.

"No, I'm good," she said with a smile.

"Good." He hung up his jacket and took hers when she had it off. "Welcome to my apartment, make yourself at home." She turned away from the door and looked around.

The entrance opened directly into what seemed like the main living room. There was a couch along the same wall as the main doorway, and an entertainment center with a TV on the opposite wall. Looking directly across the room she saw the entrance to a small galley kitchen with a dining area on the other side, and next to that was a short hallway with a couple doors coming off it, also ending in the dining area. Yumi assumed that one door was to the bathroom, and the other to the bedroom. As a whole, Xavier kept the place clean and tidy.

Xavier started walking to the kitchen. "There's movies in the cabinets next to the TV if you want to pick one out while I start on dinner."

Yumi looked at the time and saw it was around 3:30. "Isn't it a little early for dinner?"

"I'm making Beef Bourguignon, and it takes about three hours to cook."

Shocked, Yumi jerked her head in his direction. "You mean you're going to be at the stove for the next three hours!?"

He laughed. "No silly. It's got around fifteen minutes of prep time, then it stays in the oven for around three hours!"

"Oh..." said Yumi, feeling a little foolish. Her mother almost never used the oven, instead making everything on the stovetop where constant attention was required. She went to the entertainment center and hoped to move on from the current line of conversation and her complete ignorance of French cooking.

Opening up the cabinets, she browsed his collection of movies and sighed. There were the obligatory action movies that every guy seemed to have at least a few of, some dramas, some fantasy and science fiction, and even a couple of romantic comedies. She hadn't seen very many of them, but that was mostly by choice. Not even Ulrich knew her favorite kind of movies. It was a guilty pleasure she only shared with Hiroki and his silence was assured by threat of mutual exposure. Eventually she settled on a historical action-drama called 'Master and Commander' that looked alright. She took the movie and walked to the kitchen.

"How about this one?" She asked, showing Xavier the case. He grinned widely.

"Good choice, that's one of my favorites!" He exclaimed. "It's pretty long too so there won't be much wait between the movie and dinner," he continued as he started peeling some carrots.

Yumi left and put the movie on the couch, then went back to the kitchen. "Would you like some help?" She asked, feeling kinda weird just standing there while he did all the work.

"Nah, I've got it. It's not often that I get to cook for a beautiful woman like yourself!" He said with a grin.

Yumi felt herself blushing slightly at the compliment. She smirked, trying to deflect the attention. "Not often?"

He snorted, then smirked back at her. "Ok fine, never! Go sit down and I'll be there in a few minutes!" They both laughed. Shaking her head and grinning, Yumi flopped on the couch and waited for Xavier to finish.

After about five minutes, Xavier walked out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a dish towel.

"Ok, did you put the movie in already?" He asked.

Yumi held the case out to him. "No, I figured you'd be more familiar with your setup."

He shrugged. "Fair enough." He took it and got everything set up, then sat on the couch next to her. He slowly went to put his arm around her but stopped for a moment and looked at her apprehensively. "Is this ok?" He asked, and Yumi nodded. His arm settled around her shoulder and she settled into his side. He felt warm and Yumi kinda liked sitting like this.

* * *

"So, what did you think?" Xavier asked when the movie ended.

"You know, that was actually pretty good," Yumi answered truthfully, "but I thought the middle part was a bit slow."

"Yeah it kinda is, but I still like it," he responded. He suddenly started nibbling his bottom lip, looking extremely nervous.

"Is everything alright?" Asked Yumi.

He inhaled with his mouth agape and held the breath for a moment before replying. "Yeah..." there was another several moment's pause. "Can I kiss you?"

Though she thought it was getting to be a bit much, Yumi couldn't help but appreciate his dedication to making sure she was comfortable before he did anything new, so she just grinned.

"Yes."

He smiled widely and leaned forward. Yumi closed her eyes and felt his lips on hers, and it was nice. Several seconds later they broke away, both grinning slightly. Yumi settled back into his side and they sat there in a reasonably comfortable silence for the next several minutes.

Eventually, Xavier checked the time on his phone.

"Dinner should be about ready." He said as he got up. Turning around, he leaned down and kissed Yumi again before going into the kitchen with a wide grin stretching across his face.

"Would you like some help with anything?" Yumi asked.

Xavier opened a cupboard above the counter and a drawer before opening the oven. "If you could grab a couple bowls and some silverware that would be great." Yumi did so and brought them to the table and sat down. Xavier followed shortly after several more minutes of preparations, bringing a dish full of meats and vegetables that Yumi thought smelled pretty good. "My mom used to cook this a lot. It's one of my favorite dishes and I made her teach me how to make it before I moved out." He dished out a couple of bowls and handed her one of them.

Yumi blew on a spoonful of the steaming concoction before taking a bite. It wasn't what she was used to, but it tasted good. "Not bad, not bad at all!" She complimented. After the first bite, she realized that she was quite hungry, and dug right in. The two ate their meal in relative silence and soon enough they had their fill.

"Would you like some help with the cleanup?" Yumi offered.

"No, that's ok. I'll take care of the leftovers, but I'll deal with the mess later or tomorrow."

Yumi looked at the time and groaned. "It's probably about time for me to be headed home anyway. I've got more class work to do... and I'll probably be up late doing it."

Xavier gasped. "I'm so sorry! I wish you would have said something, I wouldn't have..."

"It's ok, I had a good time this evening and I'm glad I came," Yumi interrupted, holding her hands up for emphasis.

"Ok then." He went to the closet and pulled out the riding jackets and handed Yumi the pink one. She scowled at it before putting it on, like always. He also handed her the pink helmet and they left for Yumi's house.

After another uneventful ride, they arrived. Xavier escorted her to the door.

"Goodnight Xavier, thanks for dinner."

"Goodnight, Yumi." He kissed her, went back to his scooter, and rode off.

Walking into the house, Yumi's was greeted by her parents. She told them the news about her and Xavier, and they expressed interest in meeting him. Yumi headed to her room and pulled out her phone.

* * *

Sissi was on the couch watching some TV when her phone buzzed. She looked at it and saw she had a message from Yumi.

'Xavier asked me out.'

Sissi sighed before responding.

'and you said?'

'Yes. We went to his place after the library and watched a movie. He also made dinner, he's a pretty good cook.'

Sissi groaned. Yumi never spoke about Xavier the way she still spoke about Ulrich and Sissi didn't see this ending well. Still, it was Yumi's choice and would support her friend's decisions.

'Congratulation, and good luck!'

Sighing again, Sissi scrolled through her Skype contacts until she reached Ulrich's name. They hadn't really talked much since him and Yumi started talking again, but Sissi figured she was going to need to open the door for him again.

'Hey, just letting you know that you can always talk to me if you need it.'

A minute later she got a response.

'?'

'I just want you to know I'm here for you if you need it.'

Several minutes went by before her phone buzzed again.

'Yumi just messaged me. I appreciate the offer, and I'll probably be taking you up on it pretty soon. I need some time to myself first.'

'You do what you need to do, ok?'

'Thanks, Sissi.'

Sissi felt bad for Ulrich, especially with how close it sounded like he'd been getting with Yumi again. Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything but be a good friend and be there for him. She sighed yet again and put her phone down and went back to her homework.


	18. Parents

_Early August_

_Parents_

It was Friday afternoon again and Yumi was just walking out of the building where her last class was held. Taking a deep breath to try to calm herself about the events to come later that evening, she began to walk quickly home.

"Hey Yumi, wait!" She turned to see Sissi jogging trying to catch up. Yumi waited in confusion. Sissi's last class would have finished over an hour ago, which would mean that she had been waiting since.

"Hi, Sissi." Yumi greeted when the taller girl caught up. "What are you still doing here?"

"I figured you'd want some company to help with any nerves you might have about tonight. After all, it's not every day your boyfriend meets your parents." Yumi grinned slightly at her friend's thoughtfulness but couldn't help wondering if there was another hidden agenda. Ever since she started seeing Xavier, Yumi noticed that Sissi had been acting strange and a little suspicious for some reason when either him or Ulrich came up. "Speaking of which, how are things going between you two?"

"It's going pretty well." Yumi replied.

Sissi cocked an eyebrow. "Just 'pretty well...'?"

Yumi narrowed her eyes in return. "Yes, pretty well. We're still just getting to know each other, It's not as if I've known him for years like with Ulrich."

"That's true." Sissi conceded before snorting. "Speaking of Ulrich, I still can't believe you told him, your best friend, with a message!"

Yumi stopped walking suddenly and stared at Sissi with her mouth hanging slightly open. "What did you say?"

Sissi snorted again. "I said I can't believe you told Ulrich about you and Xavier with a message."

"No... the other part..."

"Oh, you mean the part about Ulrich being your best friend." Since the breakup, Yumi had been considering Sissi her best friend, but with how much phone time her and Ulrich spent with each other she wondered if that could be changing. If he could indeed become her best friend again from just that, she briefly considered what other implications could that have.

"Yeah... that part."

Sissi chuckled. "What? You two _are_ best friends and always have been!" Yumi started walking again without saying anything. Sissi continued, undeterred, "when you started talking to him again, I stopped being the person you vented to. That tells me that while I'm your good friend, he's your _best_ friend." Yumi looked at Sissi almost apologetically. "Oh, don't worry about me, I actually kinda prefer it this way! It just feels more… right," Sissi reassured. Yumi still said nothing while they walked. "Anyway, I still can't believe you told him in a message!" That managed to jar Yumi out of her silence.

"It was getting late and I wanted to make sure he found out sooner rather than... later." It was a cop-out and they both knew it. Sissi had commented about the message a few times in the last couple weeks, but Yumi was thankful that Sissi hadn't further called her out on it yet. Telling Ulrich she was going on a date was one thing, but she was ashamed that she hadn't been able to bring herself to verbally tell him she was officially seeing someone else. As expected, Ulrich's message in response had been very supportive, but neither of them had brought it up in any of their conversations despite having spoken several times since then.

Sissi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration for a moment. "If you say so, Yumi." After that she let it drop, partially because she was getting irritated at the topic, and partially because Yumi changed the subject.

"I've been meaning to tell you that with finals coming up next week I'm not going to make sparring tomorrow morning."

Both of them grateful for diversion, Sissi replied, "I've been meaning to say the same."

"And I'm pleased to announce that the final project in my pedagogy class is completed as of yesterday!" Yumi exclaimed.

"Good for you! I'm just looking forward to having a few week's break!"

"And seeing Odd again for the Lyoko Warrior's reunion next month," Yumi teased.

"Of course I'm looking forward to spending time with Odd Darling!" Sissi retorted, "and just friends or not, if you tell me you're not looking forward to seeing Ulrich again I'm calling you a liar!" She teased back.

Yumi snorted before answering. "Ok fine, I am." She was quite nervous about it too, but she wasn't going to tell Sissi that! It was at this point that they arrived at Sissi's apartment complex and the two girls hugged then parted ways.

Finishing the trip home, Yumi opened the door into her house and smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. She walked in and found her mother hard at work preparing dinner. Hearing Yumi enter the kitchen, Akiko greeted her daughter.

"Hello, Yumi."

"Hi, mom. It smells good in here! miso soup?"

"Uh huh, and shrimp tempura soba*." She replied cheerfully smiled as Yumi moaned slightly, looking forward to the meal. It was one of her favorites. Hiroki walked in the room just as Yumi was leaving. Akiko normally used pre-made noodles, so when he spied the flour on the counter for making them from scratch he asked, "is something special going on tonight?"

"Xavier is coming over for dinner." Her mother's answer made Yumi stop just on the other side of the door to listen.

"Oh..." Hiroki grunted, clearly not very enthusiastic about it. Yumi heard her mother sigh.

"I know you looked used to look up to Ulrich. Your father and I liked him a lot too, but he's gone now..." Yumi could picture her little brother rolling her eyes while at the same time her stomach clenched into knots. _Please don't say anything, please don't say anything!_ She repeated in her head. "It's good that Yumi's feeling up to moving on."

"I guess." He replied with a groan. A very relieved Yumi heard him walk toward the door. He passed Yumi on the way to the stairs to go to his room and she followed. When they were in the upstairs hallway and out of earshot of the kitchen Yumi quietly said, "thanks for not saying anything."

He looked at her in confusion. "About what?"

Yumi rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "That Ulrich and I have been talking again."

The confusion on Hiroki's face melted away and a look of derision took its place. "It's not my place to talk to mom about your personal life," he said shortly, and without another word he turned around, walked in his room and shut the door in her face. Yumi groaned and assumed it was his old hero complex flaring up again. Shaking her head, she felt that it was time to clear the air with him, so she knocked on his door. "Come in," she heard from inside. She walked in and closed the door behind her. He was sitting at his desk with his back to her

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hey..." he responded without turning around.

"You know, Xavier really is a nice guy." He finally turned around.

"I believe that. If he wasn't, you'd have already kicked his butt and sent him packing." That got a small chuckle out of Yumi and reminded her of how things ended up for Jacques. After a she stopped laughing, she tried a different approach.

"Ulrich knows about Xavier too, and he's actually been really supportive. You should give him a chance."

"I believe that too, you two talk about everything. I'm sure he just wants you to be happy."

"I know he does. He's a good friend." Hiroki sighed.

"I just want you to be happy too, you know." He stated sincerely. The two looked at each other intently for a few seconds. Yumi wasn't sure if there was a hidden meaning in her brother's words or not but didn't ask either. "I promise I'll give him a fair chance but be warned that I'm not going to hold back what I think about him when he's not around!" He shot Yumi a snarky grin that she returned.

"Deal!" The two shook hands, then she headed to her own room to try to get a little bit of homework done before Xavier arrived.

About an hour later Yumi heard the hum of a motor scooter pulling up to the fence and she started heading for the door. There was a knock that sounded muffled from her room upstairs.

"Yumi, the door! It's probably Xavier." Called her mother as Yumi barreled down the stairway toward the front entrance. She opened the door to see Xavier looking the most nervous she'd ever seen him.

"Hi, come on in!" She greeted cheerfully, trying to ease his nerves.

"Umm, hi..." he stepped inside and removed his riding jacket, which Yumi took from him and hung up in the closet.

"Hello, you must be Xavier." Yumi turned around to see Hiroki walking down the stairs. Though she could tell it was forced, his smile was pretty convincing and Yumi appreciated that he was at least making an effort. Reaching the blond man, he held out his hand for Xavier to shake, which he did.

"Yes, and you must be Hiroki."

"Uh huh. I just came down to say hi, but I've got a lot of homework to do so I'll see you again at dinner!" He replied with a cheerfulness that was as forced as his smile before going back up to his room. Yumi shook her head behind Xavier's back, hoping he wouldn't notice her brother's insincerity before diverting her attention back to doing introductions.

"Let's go to the kitchen, I'd like you to meet my mom." Putting her hand on his shoulder, Yumi guided him to the kitchen.

"Hello, you must be Xavier. I'm Yumi's mother." She greeted while drying her hands on a dish towel.

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Ishiyama." He held out his hand after Akiko put down the dish towel, and she gently took it while nodding toward him slightly.

"And you as well, but I'm going to have to kick you both out of the kitchen while I finish dinner."

Yumi and Xavier left the kitchen and sat on the couch in the front room. "My dad should be home from work soon."

"Ok, I'm looking forward to meeting him." Yumi thought that he actually didn't but decided not to say anything. It didn't look like the only thing he was nervous about either… "Umm, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I've never had Japanese food…"

Yumi let out a chuckle. "Don't worry about it. We're having miso soup and tempura shrimp soba. It's really good… one of my favorites actually." _And Ulrich's too._ She forced the unwanted thought to the back of her head. Lately it felt like she was doing that constantly, and the irritation must have shown on her face.

"Is something wrong?" Xavier asked, snapping Yumi back to the present. Yumi put a smile on her face.

"No, it's nothing." He seemed unconvinced, but it looked like he had other things on his mind, and he let it go.

"Ok then, can I tell you something else?"

"Sure."

"I don't know how to use chopsticks…" Yumi laughed out loud.

"I guess I'm going to have to give you a crash course before dinner!" She went to the kitchen to get a pair of chopsticks for Xavier to practice with.

Getting back to the couch, Yumi did her best to coach Xavier through the use of chopsticks, and he eventually sort of got the hang of it. When she got up to put the chopsticks away, she thought of when she taught Ulrich how to use them. He was a natural and she remembered how every time their hands touched during the lesson, a warm tingle seemed to spread throughout her body, and she couldn't help noticing that she felt nothing of the sort with Xavier, even when they kissed. She was starting to wonder if there ever would be…

Before she could think about it too hard, she heard her father come in and figured she should act as a buffer between him and Xavier, so she rushed back into the front room.

"Hi Dad!" She called out when she saw him.

"Hello Yumi," he replied. After helping Xavier to his feet, she started the introductions.

"Dad, this is Xavier." Her father eyed Xavier appraisingly for a moment before extending a hand to shake.

"Hello Xavier, I'm Takeo Ishiyama."

"It's nice to meet you sir." Xavier shook the proffered hand.

"Yumi, could you get your brother? It's time for dinner!" Akiko called from the kitchen.

Yumi headed up the stairs and knocked on her brother's door.

"Come in." She poked her head through the door to see Hiroki working at his desk.

"It's time for dinner." She started to turn around and head back downstairs but stopped and poked her head back through the door. He had turned around and was facing the door now. "And please try to be nice. You never know, he just might be your brother in-law someday!"

"Yeah, maybe," he snorted out. When Yumi gave him a dirty look, he added, "I promise I'll be nice." The two siblings headed down the stairs to dinner. Yumi thought that it promised to be an interesting evening.

*Lightly fried shrimp with thick noodles made from buckwheat.


	19. Dinner Time

_Early August_

_Dinner Time_

When the Ishiyama family plus Xavier sat down for dinner, the miso soup had already been served out to each place setting. A large pot of Soba noodles sat in the middle of the table with a heaping mound of the lightly battered shrimp next to it. Yumi felt her mouth water and she dug right it, as did her family. She also kept an eye on Xavier, who sat for a moment in wide-eyed shock at the way her and her family were happily, and noisily, slurping down their soup. He gingerly brought his own bowl to his mouth in an attempt to mimic his hosts, albeit slower and a bit more quietly.

"How do you like the soup?" Akiko asked Xavier when she finished hers.

"It's good, thank you," he replied, lowering the bowl from his lips. He seemed to enjoy the flavor well enough, but it was pretty clear that the traditional Japanese table manners displayed around the room had him pretty uncomfortable.

"Just slurp it down, it tastes better that way!" Takeo encouraged Xavier with a laugh while he started dishing himself a small hill of soba and shrimp, completely oblivious to the young man's unease. Hiroki started to lightly chuckle at the slightly appalled look on Xavier's face at the noises he started making with his own soup before Yumi kicked her brother under the table. A minute later, his soup was gone. He went to load up his plate with soba noodles and shrimp with his chopsticks. He was reasonably successful with the noodles, but some of the pieces of shrimp took a couple tries.

"Xavier, I'm sure that Yumi has told us before, but what is it that you're studying in school?" Yumi's mother asked when he no longer had to concentrate on dishing his food.

"I like computers, and I like teaching, so I figured I'd try to teach programming. Most other programmers I've known aren't really good with people so there's probably a niche there that needs to be filled." Yumi smiled at him being confident for probably the first time this evening.

"Hey, you'd probably get along well with Jeremy and Aelita!" Exclaimed Hiroki. "They're both incredible with computers."

"Yeah, so your sister told me," replied Xavier. "Though from what she's said, they're both probably far beyond my abiliti-OW!"

"Are you alright!?" Asked Yumi as Xavier pulled his chopsticks out of his right hand with his left.

"Yeah, my hand's cramping a little, that's all." He started stretching out his fingers on the edge of the table. Meanwhile, Yumi silenced another round of Hiroki's barely stifled chuckling with another kick under the table.

"We have some forks in the kitchen if you'd prefer to use that," Akiko offered sympathetically.

Xavier cast his eyes down in embarrassment. "Umm... yeah, if you don't mind." She went to the kitchen, came back and handed the utensil to the blond. "Thanks..." he muttered sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, I remember one time that Yumi got frustrated enough to pull out a fork too!" Hiroki exclaimed. Looking at Yumi he added with a smirk, "you were acting weird the whole evening..." Yumi looked at him with eyes wide in shock, completely unaware of what he was talking about. Glancing at Xavier, her brother's claim seemed to make him feel a bit more comfortable. At least that was good. "You dressed really funny the next morning too." The extra piece of information made the rest of it click and Yumi glared at the table and started fuming at the memory of Odd's behavior while in her body.

"I... wasn't really myself that day..." Yumi muttered. The inside joke felt lame even to her and didn't lift her spirits any.

Yumi's father looked up from the food he'd been completely preoccupied with and chimed in, "you acted pretty strange there for a couple of years... You certainly had your mother and I worried with the way you would sneak out until all hours of the night..."

"DAAAD!" Yumi interrupted. She knew that they were referring to her behavior during the fight against XANA, but her old excuse of 'being in love' wasn't currently an option... Hiroki held his smirk knowingly, but to his credit, and Yumi's gratitude, he didn't say anything else. Xavier, on the other hand, regarded the whole exchange with surprised, yet amused, interest.

"Alright, that's enough you two. That was a long time ago and this is not the time for that discussion." Yumi breathed a small sigh of relief and shot her mother a look of gratitude for the rescue. She glanced at Xavier and was very dismayed to see the curiosity plainly displayed on his face. There was no way he wasn't going to ask about her late nights from high school later. Suddenly, she felt very thankful for her family's intervening presence. Despite her current frustration with him, she also had a lot more respect for Odd for being able to fend off Sissi's curiosity for as long as he did when they started getting close and before they started dating. She made a mental note to ask one of them about it later.

With that mess of a conversation ended, the family went back to their food and safer topics of conversation like school. Xavier was a lot more successful with the fork than with the chopsticks as well, though his embarrassment was pretty clear to see. Even so, the rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful, and maybe even a little dull, but after the way the dinner started, Yumi found it quite preferable!

Yumi's mother collected the dishes and headed to the kitchen, Hiroki went back upstairs to do more homework, and her dad went to the home office to try to deal with something his work had called him about, leaving Yumi and Xavier. Having exams coming up, she hoped he didn't linger so she could study, but she didn't want to kick him out either. Fortunately, he seemed to have similar ideas and she walked him out to his scooter.

"It was nice meeting your family Yumi, they seem like nice people." Xavier said while suiting up for the ride home.

"Yeah, they are. It's not a perfect family, but we all care about each other. That's the main thing."

Xavier smirked and said with a laugh, "and you're going to have to tell me about those late-night adventures your parents hinted at some time!"

Yumi felt her stomach seem to fold in on itself and she looked at the ground while rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah..." she said slowly, "sometime..."

Xavier gently lifted her head back up by her chin. "Hey, don't worry about it. If you're not ready to talk about it, then that's fine. I promised you I wasn't going to pressure you into things you weren't comfortable with and I meant that?" Yumi offered a little smile.

"Thanks."

He pulled his hand away. "Since it's finals next week, I doubt we will be able to see each other outside of class, so I guess this is goodbye until the end of next week.

"Yeah... I'll be glad when it's over."

"Me too. Goodnight Yumi." He kissed her goodbye, mounted his scooter and rode away.

Before walking back in, Yumi checked the time on her phone. She was surprised to see that Ulrich had left her a message; she hadn't felt it vibrate.

'I know you're going to be busy tonight, but would you be able to talk for a little bit?'

'I can do our stay-on-the-line thing, but I've got to study for finals next week,' she replied.

'It'll just be a few minutes, there's just something I figured I should tell you.'

She thought for a moment before replying again, 'can you wait ten to fifteen minutes?'

'Yes.'

With that Yumi headed inside. Her mother walked out of the kitchen as she was heading toward the stairway.

"Well, he seems like a nice boy, very polite too."

"Yes, he is."

"It's too bad about the chopsticks though." Yumi scowled.

"Was it really that big of a deal?" She grumbled.

"Of course not." Akiko assured, walking up and absently brushing a few strands of Yumi's hair that had fallen out of place behind her ear. "It's just that he was obviously embarrassed by it and I rather feel bad about that. He shouldn't feel ashamed about not being good at something he's never done before." Upon finding out that she had merely misunderstood her mother, Yumi's irritation subsided.

"Ok then, I'm headed to my room to study for finals."

"I imagine we probably won't be seeing much of you for the next week then."

"No, probably not."

"Ok, next time I go shopping I'll make sure to get some snacks you can help yourself to if you get hungry." Yumi grinned in appreciation.

"Thanks mom!"

Before getting to her room, she noticed Hiroki's door was cracked and decided to have a few words with him. She knocked and he told her to come in.

"What's up sis?"

She smiled at her brother. "You might have embarrassed me a little bit tonight, but I could tell you were trying to be nice to Xavier and I wanted to say thanks for that."

"You're welcome." It looked like he was about to say something else, but Yumi's phone buzzed with a message from Ulrich.

'Ready?'

Yumi smiled and messaged back.

'Two minutes.'

When she looked back up Hiroki was leering at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing..." Yumi wasn't convinced, but she didn't have the time to get into it, so she let it go.

"Ok then, I've got to go." She turned and started walking away. As she was walking through the door, she heard Hiroki give out a frustrated sigh and she looked back to see him shaking his head. She shook her head as well in confusion at his behavior.

Arriving at her room she closed the door and sat down at her desk. Plugging her headphones into her phone, she scrolled until she found Ulrich's name and hit call.

"Hi Yumi."

"Hey Ulrich, how's it going?"

"Pretty well I guess." There was an awkward silence on the line for a minute. Yumi knew that Ulrich had something to say and she intended on letting him get it out, but he seemed hesitant. "I heard that your parents met Xavier today, how'd it go?" Yumi jerked her head back in surprise at Ulrich bringing him up. She took a breath to steel herself for the conversation to come and started talking.

"It went pretty well actually. Hiroki behaved himself which was good. Unfortunately, my dad brought up my sneaking out when we were still fighting XANA, so I can expect to be asked about that later." Ulrich groaned.

"Any idea what you're going to say?" Yumi sighed.

"Not really. I've been thinking I might ask Odd or Sissi how he kept it under wraps from her for so long."

"That's not going to help."

"Huh, why's that?" Yumi asked.

"I asked Sissi about it once because I was curious. We all knew that she already knew something was up before we filled her in on everything," he told her.

"Oh, what did she say?"

"Shortly after her and Odd started hanging out she told him that she knew we had secrets, and probably had good reason for keeping them, but wasn't going to ask about them because she couldn't handle him lying to her anymore. She had already let him see her at her most vulnerable by that time so that makes sense." Disappointed that their story wasn't going to be any help, Yumi started tracing the wood grain in her desk absently with her finger. "She also said that knowing that we had a big secret that she wasn't in on started to really hurt after a while. Not just with Odd either, but with all of us." Upon hearing that, her heart plummeted to her stomach. Xavier was a trustworthy person, she knew that, but she also _really_ didn't want to tell him about Lyoko, not to mention that it would be betraying the trust of the rest of the group! Sissi had only been let in on Lyoko after a proving herself to everyone individually, and with everyone scattered around the world Xavier would never have that chance...

"I guess that would hurt after a while..." Yumi muttered.

"Don't worry about it too much. If it gets to a point to where you want to talk to Xavier about it, I promise I'll be fair to him. From what you've told me he seems pretty trustworthy, and I trust your judgement. Besides, as long as you're happy, I can be happy about that."

"Thanks, Ulrich," she said quietly. Tears started to well up as Yumi felt her heart melt a little.

"That's not actually why I wanted to talk to you though." Ulrich started to sound nervous, and it in turn made Yumi nervous about it.

"Ok... what's up then?" Yumi asked.

"Well... I've got a date next Friday..." Yumi's heart pounded in her chest and her hands became clammy and began to shake. "Her name's Anja and a friend from class set us up. I've met her a few times before and she seemed pretty nice."

_This is a good thing. He's moving on, just like me._

Yumi made herself think while she forced a number of deep breaths that she tried to keep quiet. "Good, that's good. I hope that it goes well for you." She replied, sounding a lot more sincere than she felt.

"Yeah, me too. We probably won't be able to talk that evening either because of it."

_You're probably not going to be able to talk to Ulrich as much as you do now._

Sissi's words from a couple weeks prior planted themselves firmly in the forefront of her mind, and upon becoming reality they stung... badly. Still, Ulrich had been nothing but supportive of her, so at the very least she owed it to him to return the favor.

"That's ok, we'll just have to talk a different day then," Yumi heard herself say.

"Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I've got to get to studying."

"Me too. Did you want to stay in the line?" She asked hopefully, not wanting to let him go just yet.

"As much as I'd love that, I really need to not have any distractions right now. Sorry Yumi." Yumi's heart sank yet again, but she understood. He had expressed several times over the semester that he'd been having a very hard time with a couple of his courses. If said he needed no distractions, then he meant it.

"Ok Ulrich, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah. Goodnight Yumi."

"Goodnight, Ulrich."

Yumi ended the call and pulled her headphones off. Shaking her head to clear it of everything but the cramming she had ahead of her, she cracked open her books and hit them hard! A few exhausting hours later she called it quits and got ready for bed. Lying in bed a little later, she felt a couple of tears drop from her eyes onto the pillow. Try as she might to convince herself that it was a good thing that both her and Ulrich were both moving on, there was one question she couldn't answer…

_If moving on was such a good thing, then why did it hurt so much?_


	20. The Dream

_Mid August_

_The Dream_

_Yumi saw Aelita dashing for the tower. Unfortunately, she also saw the megatank charging its disk beam, aimed right at Aelita! With the monster's 'eye' facing away from her, Yumi didn't have a target so she did the only thing she could think of. Running as fast as she could, she slammed her shoulder into the black sphere in desperation. The impact managed to turn the trajectory of the disk just enough to cause it to miss the pink-haired virtual girl, and to send the creature tumbling into the digital sea below. Unfortunately, Yumi's momentum carried her tumbling over the edge herself, to where she just barely managed to grasp the sloped edge._

" _Jeremy, I can't hold on anymore!" She cried out._

" _Aelita's inside the tower now! Hang on Yumi!" Jeremy's voice calls out frantically._

" _I can't, I…! Oh!" The girl felt her hand slip just a little bit more._

" _Yumi! I'm coming! Yumi!" Ulrich's voice called out over the ridge. Yumi felt a faint glimmer of hope just before her hand slipped the rest of the way and terror gripped her as she plummeted to the digital void below._

" _NOOOOOOO!" Ulrich screamed, as he appeared at the edge a moment too late._

"YAHHH!" Yumi yelled, bolting upright in her bed. Taking several deep breaths, she wiped away the cold sweat beaded on her forehead, completely soaking her hand. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she noticed that her pajamas were also drenched. It had been a long time since she'd dreamt of the horrors of the fight with XANA so vividly. She hadn't slept much in the last few weeks due to cramming for exams, but with the pressure of the semester ending yesterday her mind must have reverted back to much older stresses.

After changing into dry pajamas, she laid back down to try to get back to sleep but try as she might her mind wouldn't calm down. If anything, it got worse the longer she lay down and a few tears fell from knowing that she technically died the time she fell into the digital sea. Picking up her phone she saw that it was around 2:30 and she groaned into her pillow. Around fifteen minutes later she just couldn't stand it anymore and opened up her contacts list. Scrolling down the list she came to Ulrich's name with Xavier's just below it. Her finger hovered over the two names, unable to decide which one to try to call first and her indecision started making her feel even worse. Apart from when they hadn't been speaking, Ulrich had always been the one to cheer her up when she needed it. However, with him signaling that he was moving on, perhaps it was time she started leaning on Xavier. He was her boyfriend after all. Making her decision, she pushed call and the phone started ringing.

"Unnggh... Yumi?" She heard Xavier answer with a groan.

"Hi..." she replied sheepishly. Xavier audibly yawned on the other side of the phone.

"It's really late, what's going on?" He asked sleepily.

"I had some bad dreams..." as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how silly that would sound to someone who didn't know the things she'd been through. A slight chuckle came from the phone.

"Ok then, what was it about?" Relieved that he wasn't going to just blow her off, she told him about the part of the dream where she fell, leaving out that it really happened and Ulrich's appearance. "That does sound like a scary dream." It sounded like he was taking her seriously, but in the same way a parent might when their child is afraid of the dark... and that wasn't what she needed. Still, she pressed on hoping that he would come around without her having to tell him everything... though she wasn't very hopeful at this point.

"Yeah, it was... I'm just a bit shook up from it."

"It's alright. Things like that don't happen in real life. There's no void going to swallow you up, things like that don't exist." Yumi's heart sank. Without knowing about Lyoko, he definitely wasn't going to be able to provide her with the kind of reassurance that she needed.

"Yeah... you're right. I guess I'm being a little silly." She said while trying to keep the dismay out of her voice.

"See, it was just a silly dream. You're gonna be ok." He was trying to be encouraging, but how completely wrong his interpretation was just made Yumi feel even worse.

"Yeah, just a dream." She lied. "Thanks for listening. Goodnight, Xavier."

"Goodnight, Yumi."

When she hung up, she felt just as badly before. In her desperation, she almost called him back and told him _everything_ , but stopped herself realizing that there was no way he would even believe her. Even if he did, Yumi remembered how blown away Sissi was when they told her, and if Xavier was anything like that then he wouldn't be of any help right now anyway!

Hugging her knees to her chest, she unlocked her phone again and saw the easy way out taunting her. After hanging up with Xavier her screen had reverted to her contacts list and displayed was Ulrich's name. There was no doubt in her mind that he would talk to her and know just what to say. Deciding that she needed to talk to him she pressed call. When the phone stopped ringing Yumi heard a groan.

"Hi, Ulrich..." she greeted quietly.

"Hey, Yumi. Is something wrong? Did you have another nightmare?" The simple fact that he already knew what was wrong comforted Yumi considerably and she felt herself relax a little.

"Yeah..."

"Was it the one about the cold?" He asked, concern clearly evident in his voice.

"No..." she paused for a moment, knowing that it would only take a couple guesses for him to get it right. As if on cue, Ulrich spoke again.

"The digital sea then?"

"Yeah."

"I remember that. Out of everything, that was probably the scariest thing to ever happen on Lyoko." Sharing the memories meant sharing the pain... pain that Ulrich had always been willing and able to take for her. "I thought you were gone... we thought you were gone."

"Yeah. I don't think I'd ever been so afraid," Yumi confessed.

"I would have been scared too," Ulrich admitted. Yumi heard some rustling, followed by the familiar squeak of Ulrich's desk chair. It sounded like he opened a drawer, then said softly, "I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you..." Yumi heard him sigh deeply. The sound of the 'drawer' shutting came through the phone and Ulrich spoke again, this time a bit more clearly. "Anyway, that part of our life is over and done with. XANA is gone, and you don't ever have to go to Lyoko again if you don't want to." Yumi smiled. Comfort and reassurance from someone who understood was exactly what she needed. "We get to live normal lives now."

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Ulrich."

"You're welcome, Yumi. I'm always here for you, you know that." Yumi's smile widened.

"Yeah, I know."

"Want to talk about something lighter before we hang up?" Ulrich offered.

"Sure, like what?"

"Uhh... how did your exams go?" He asked and Yumi groaned.

" _That's_ your idea of a lighter topic?" Ulrich chuckled.

"Lighter than life and death!" He retorted cheerfully.

"Umm... still no!" Yumi declined, laughing as well. She stopped laughing as a question came to her mind. Her heart started to pound at the thought of asking it, but she had to know the answer. "How did your date with Anya go?" She sounded a lot more carefree about it than she felt.

"It actually went pretty well. So far, she seems really nice. We're going out again next weekend again, Saturday though so we won't have to miss our Friday night talk again." Yumi's stomach tightened into conflicted knots. On the one hand she wanted him to be happy and thought that moving on was a positive step for him. On the other hand, Yumi was hit with an unexpected wave of jealousy that she used to be so familiar with but hadn't felt in years...

"That's good, I'm happy for you." Yumi said, not feeling that way at all. "Anyway, it's late and we should both get back to sleep. Thanks for being willing to talk, I definitely feel a lot better. Good luck with Anya."

"You're welcome. Goodnight, Yumi."

"Goodnight, Ulrich." After the goodbyes, the line went dead as Ulrich hung up.

While it was true that she felt better about her dream, her feelings about everything else were more conflicted than ever. Thinking about it for only a few seconds, Yumi quickly discovered that she was far too tired to try to make sense of them now and instead tried to get some rest. Sleep didn't come easily though, and she found herself tossing and turning for the rest of the night…


	21. Confrontation

_Late August_

_Confrontation_

Yumi was eating breakfast Wednesday morning a couple of weeks after her nightmare when she got a message from Xavier.

'Are you free for lunch today? I think we need to talk.'

The two of them had hung out a few times in the last couple weeks, but things had felt a little awkward since she called him about the dream. That awkwardness combined with his choice of words in the message had Yumi nervous. Still, he was her boyfriend and if he felt that they needed to talk, then they would. She sent him message asking him when and he offered to meet at noon at a small restaurant within easy walking distance from her house. The fact that he wanted to meet her there made her even more worried because he normally would have offered her a ride. After finishing breakfast, she's put her dishes in the sink and walked into the front room where her mother was folding laundry.

"Good morning, Yumi." She greeted cheerfully.

"Morning mom. I'm meeting Xavier for lunch today," Yumi replied, trying to return her mother's cheerfulness despite her unease.

"Ok, have a good time. I'm meeting your father for lunch and afterwards going to the store so I might not be here when you get back. Just let me know whether or not you plan on being home for dinner," she said without looking up from the pair of Hiroki's pants she was folding.

"Ok, mom. Sounds good!" After that short exchange, Yumi went back up to her room and spent some time trying to read a book, but quickly found herself unable to concentrate. Looking at the clock, she groaned loudly when she saw that there was still over three hours left before it was time to meet Xavier. In an effort to occupy herself, she messaged Sissi.

'I've got some free time this morning, want to get some sparring in?'

A couple minutes later she got a response.

'Spending the day with my dad, sorry.'

Jean-Pierre was normally very busy running Kadic, so Yumi was glad that him and Sissi were able to get some father-daughter time in. Unfortunately that didn't help her own situation any. She eventually ended up helping her mom with laundry until it was time for her to leave.

Approaching the restaurant, Yumi checked the time on her phone to see that she was a few minutes early. She didn't see Xavier's scooter in the parking lot so she went inside to get a table... preferably one with some privacy! Shortly after sitting down, Xavier walked through the door. She waved him over and he sat down.

"Hi, Xavier," she greeted.

"Hi, Yumi," he murmured in reply. Something was clearly bothering him. Yumi was about to ask what was wrong, but was interrupted by a waitress who took their drink orders. Deciding to wait until after ordering to ask what Xavier needed to talk about, she opened her menu and did her best to ignore the awkward silence between her and her boyfriend while she decided what to order.

After the waitress came and left with their meal orders, Yumi gathered her courage and asked, "what's going on? What did you need to talk about?" Xavier sighed lightly before replying.

"I keep thinking about the other night..." he said quietly. Yumi suddenly didn't feel very hungry as her stomach folded in on itself. "Everything I've learned about you in the last few months tells me that you wouldn't be the kind of person to get worked up from just a dream." Yumi gulped and he continued, "so I've been thinking that there's got to be more to it than that... something that you have a hard time talking about... is that true?" Yumi didn't say anything and instead looked at the table. "Yumi, please look at me." She did so and was surprised that there wasn't a trace of anger in his face, just concerned and a little hurt. "Does it have to do with the mysterious late nights your parents mentioned?" She cast her eyes back toward the table. She didn't want to lie, but she just couldn't tell him the truth or at least not the whole truth. However, her silence must have confirmed his suspicions because he continued speaking. "Whatever it was must have really been dangerous then to cause nightmares like that... did it have to do with Aelita's family?" Yumi jerked her head up with eyes wide. Him making that connection took her completely by surprise!

"I-I said she was an orphan..." she managed to stammer out.

"I know, but you were also scrambling when you told me that so if figured there was much more to the story. At the time I let it go because I figured it was between her and Jeremy and at some point he'd asked for your advice. Then you had that nightmare and the way you're scrambling again now makes me think that you were probably more directly involved." Yumi was starting to wonder just how perceptive he was!

"I... I can't talk about it," she admitted quietly, causing Xavier to sigh.

Their conversation was interrupted when the waitress walked over and delivered their lunches. For the next several minutes, the two of them ate their meals in awkward silence, but as they were about to finish, Xavier spoke up.

"You know, I want to be able to provide comfort and reassurance to you when you need it." Xavier paused for a second to let his words sink in. "But if you can't open up to me, then I'll never be able to because I'll never know what you've been through." Never once did he look angry. He just kept that same hurt and concerned expression the whole time.

"I know," Yumi whispered.

"If you don't feel you can tell me right now, I'm really ok with that. After all, we've only known each other for a few months." Yumi narrowed her eyes a little in surprise before he continued. "But I have to ask you something."

"What's that?" She asked quietly.

"Will you _ever_ be able to tell me what happened?"

Yumi looked back down at her food and absently pushed what was left of it around her plate. "Then what are we doing?" Xavier asked. Yumi looked back up.

"What do you mean?"

"I like you a lot Yumi, but if you'll never be able to trust me with your past... no..." he looked away for a second and shook his head. He put a finger up to his mouth while he thought about how he wanted to phrase his next question. Several seconds later he pulled it away. "How would we ever be able build a future together if you can't trust me..."

Yumi's eyes shot wide open. "Future together?"

"Yeah." Yumi continued staring at him. "I didn't ask you to go out with me just for fun. I'm graduating next year, and I always hoped that I'd meet and fall in love with someone in college where there's a lot more opportunity to meet people. I also always hoped to be able to get married shortly after graduating, getting a real job, and a place of my own."

"Oh..." said Yumi. She had joked about it with Hiroki when Xavier came to dinner, but hadn't really given it that much thought.

"Of course I'm not asking you to marry me right now, but I decided a long time ago that I would always date with the viability of marriage in mind. I guess I thought you were on the same page, that we were both looking to see if this could last. Was I wrong?"

"I guess so... sorry. I never really thought that far ahead," Yumi replied meekly. Xavier scraped the last of his bit of food together onto his fork and ate it, finishing his lunch. He looked back up at Yumi.

"I'm going to ask you something, and I just want you to be honest, okay? I promise I won't get mad, and I'm not going to ask about your high school late-nights." Yumi nodded. "Throughout this whole relationship it's felt like we're just friends who kiss on occasion, and I sometimes put my arm around you. It also seems like I'm always the one initiating everything too." Yumi listened attentively, but she had a feeling she knew where this was going. "Do you actually like me as more than just a friend? Or are you just going through the motions." Now that she was thinking about it directly, there was only one answer.

"I like you, and spending time with you, but I guess not like that." Xavier looked down at his empty plate.

"I thought so."

"I wanted to, and I did try..." Xavier held his hand up, cutting her off.

"It's ok. Thank you for being honest. Neither one of us can make you feel something that you don't, and I'd rather have found out now than months or years from now." He picked up the bill and stood up. "I guess this is goodbye. Maybe we'll see each other next semester... and maybe even be able to pick back up as just friends," he said as he shrugged.

"Yeah... maybe. I'm sorry."

"You feel how you feel, and you don't have to apologize for that. We gave it a shot and it didn't work. Sometimes that's just the way it goes." He started heading for the door, but stopped about two steps later. He turned around with a look on his face that Yumi couldn't quite identify. "Can I ask you one more thing, just to satisfy my own curiosity? Again, I promise I won't get mad."

"Yes," Yumi replied. She figured that with everything that had come out in the open today, there wasn't much more to hide.

"The night you had that dream... did you talk to Ulrich after talking to me?" Yumi gasped, and wondered how he guessed that.

"Yeah... I did." He shut his eyes and pursed his lips for a few moments.

"Maybe you should spend some time thinking about wh... what you really want." Before Yumi could ask what he meant, he had already turned around and was at the counter paying the bill. After he left, Yumi just sat there for another few minutes with her brain twisting itself in knots trying to fathom his closing statement. After giving up, she let out a sigh and started the walk home.

Entering her house, Yumi found her brother playing a video game in the front room with his back to her.

"Hi Sis! I figured you be out with Xavier until later," he greeted after glancing over his shoulder.

"No..." she debated internally whether or not she should tell him about the breakup now or not, but with her parents gone she quickly decided that now was probably the best time. "Actually... we broke up today." He paused his game and turned around to look at her.

"I'm sorry to hear that..." he began, and even sounded honest about it. "But after he came over to dinner I really didn't see the two of you lasting."

"Thanks..." Yumi retorted sarcastically.

"Don't get me wrong, he seemed like a really nice guy. He definitely liked you, but it really didn't look like you were actually all that interested in him. I was going to talk to you about it after he left that evening, but then you got a message from Ulrich and we haven't talked much since."

Yumi cocked an eyebrow. "How did you that was Ulrich?"

Her brother chuckled slightly. "The look on your face when you read it. It was the same as every other time he messages you or you talk to him. It's kind of a warm glow." Yumi felt her cheeks flush. "That's the other reason I didn't see you and Xavier working out, because you still love Ulrich. You're just to proud... or stubborn... or both to admit it!"

Yumi scowled at her little brother. "Ok, lets get something straight; this hero complex that you've always had on Ulrich really needs to stop!" Hiroki returned his sister's glare. "And we broke up almost a year ago! And..."

"You talk to him almost every Wednesday and Friday!" Hiroki interrupted, taking Yumi completely aback.

"How did you know that?"

He smirked in smug satisfaction. "I pay attention, and my room is right next to yours!" He let out a huff. "I'll admit that there was a time when I did have a hero complex, but that was before he started hanging out around here more often. Over the years I got to know him a lot better and the hero complex went away. Do you want to know what replaced it."

"What?" asked Yumi, feeling both curiosity and frustration.

"Genuine respect." He paused to let it sink in. "Respect for how hard of a worker he is. After all, we both know that school doesn't come easily to him, yet he's still somehow managing to balance classwork, soccer, and talking to you twice a week!" Yumi had to admit that Hiroki had a point there, and she had a lot of respect for Ulrich for the same reasons! "And I _always_ respected how he treated you when you were dating." Yumi opened her mouth to give a rebuttal, but she couldn't argue with that either so she just shut it again without saying anything. "I told you that I just want you to be happy, but I've never seen you happier than when you were with Ulrich... Heck I _still_ never see you happier than when you're talking to him!"

"Hiroki, we're just friends now and I've moved on." Yumi retorted, though she didn't sound anywhere near as confident as she wished she did.

Hiroki stood up and pulled on his hair for a moment in frustration, then snapped, "Yumi, stop lying!"

Yumi's face scrunched, practically disgusted at his accusation. "Wait, now you think I'm lying to you!" she growled back.

"If you were just lying to me, I really wouldn't care very much, but you need to stop lying to YOURSELF!" Hiroki's words shook Yumi to the core, and her mind flooded with all the thoughts about missing Ulrich that she'd been pushing aside. The only sound was the two siblings' heavy breathing from the argument that was so very heated only moments before. A few seconds went by then Hiroki dared to break the silence and quietly spoke. "If you can look me in the eye and tell me that you do not love Ulrich Stern anymore, then I will believe you and promise to never bring it up again." Yumi looked at her brother and opened her mouth to speak.

"I..." but she couldn't do it and she started trembling. Her inability to say those words combined with all the thought and memories buzzing through her mind forced her to admit that she had been deluding herself with her attempts at moving on... to finally admit that there was truly only one person that she wanted... and her heart sank as she remembered that he had just started seeing someone else...

"You can't do it, can you," Hiroki said quietly. Frustration with herself and the current situation filled Yumi and she lashed out at her brother.

"Just shut up, Hiroki!" she shouted, and stormed out of the house, slamming the door as she left.

 _I will NOT cry, I will NOT cry!_ She repeated to herself as she started to walk quickly away from her home. Almost immediately her anger gave way to sharp regret at her actions a year and she slowed her pace, but she kept up her mantra and somehow she succeeded in keeping the tears back. For the next several minutes she walked without paying attention to where she was going, but soon found herself at Sissi's apartment. She knocked on the door and Sissi answered.

"Hi Yumi, is something wrong?" she asked, seeing the troubled look on her friend's face.

"I've been an idiot," Yumi replied meekly, not meeting her friend's gaze. Sissi stepped back from the doorway and smiled slightly, figuring that she knew what this was about.

"Come on in." Yumi stepped in the door and the taller girl wrapped her in a comforting hug for the next minute. Breaking away from each other they moved to, and sat on the sofa. "So, what happened?" Sissi asked. Yumi relayed the events of the day and somehow managed to keep her eyes dry throughout the story. When she was done, Sissi chuckled wryly. "It's about time. I was going to say the same thing that Hiroki did when you told me that you and him had started doing your homework 'together,' but then you started seeing Xavier so I didn't. I knew you'd figure out that he wasn't the one for you eventually." She smiled gently. "So, when are you going to tell Ulrich."

"That's the problem... it might be too late."

"What to you mean?" Sissi asked, her smile fading.

"Do you know about Anya?" Yumi asked.

"I think Ulrich has mentioned the name before, but I honestly haven't talked to him in a few weeks."

Yumi squeezed her eyes shut in order to prevent another wave of tears. "A couple weeks ago they went on a date that went well enough to schedule another one for last Saturday."

Sissi sighed lightly. "I see."

"He was supportive of me when I told him I was going on the date with Jacques and the whole relationship with Xavier. If nothing else, then he deserves my support if she'll make him happy. If it doesn't work out, then I'll tell him everything."

Sissi frowned. "Well... I guess I understand. Somehow I've got the feeling that it won't last very long though."

"Selfishly, I hope you're right." Yumi looked at the clock. "I should probably get going. Thanks for listening."

They both stood up and hugged tightly. "That's what friends are for. Good luck Yumi... with everything."

Yumi left and when she got home she went straight to her room without talking to anyone. She picked up the book she had tried reading earlier in the day, flopped down on the bed, and stared blankly at a random page. A few minutes later there was a knock at her door.

"Yumi, are you in there?" called her mother.

"Yeah, come on in," she replied, not even bothering to try to sound cheerful anymore. Her mom entered and sat on the bed next to her.

"Hiroki said that you two had a fight."

"Yeah, we did."

"He told me that he said some things that probably hurt a lot, and that he felt bad about it." Yumi grunted out a small laugh.

"Yeah... some of what he said really dug deep... but it was all true. He really is a smart kid."

Akiko smiled. "Yes he is. Do you want to talk about it?"

Yumi clapped her hand to her forehead. "Everyone else already knows how I screwed up my love-life, I guess you may as well too!" she said with a laugh. "Xavier broke up with me."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that," her mom said, in probably the most motherly way possible.

"It's fine. It wasn't going to work out and it seems that everyone already knew it but me!" Yumi exclaimed. She was still laughing, though she didn't know what was so funny.

"To be honest, I didn't think so either. He just didn't seem your type."

Yumi stopped laughing. "You're right... but still I screwed up."

"What do you mean?"

"I should have never broke up with Ulrich... or at least not without talking to him and trying to make things work. Instead I just made the decision for both of us... again!" The older woman looked at her daughter with concern.

"But that was a year ago..."

"Yeah, I know." Yumi then told her about the how she had started talking to Ulrich again a couple months after the breakup, how frequently, her recent and sudden realizations of her continued feelings for him, and... Anya.

"I had no idea." Akiko said when Yumi finished. "You shouldn't worry too much, things tend to have a way of working themselves out."

"I hope you're right."

"I've got to get started on dinner, but you know you can always talk to me." Yumi nodded and her mother left, leaving Yumi alone with her thoughts and feelings. The worst part of everything, though, was the guilt of knowing that this is was the anguish she had been putting Ulrich through for the entire last year...


	22. Living with Frustration

_Late August_

_Living with Frustration_

The following Saturday morning Yumi woke up exhausted from sleeping poorly from the last few days. She sent a message to Sissi.

'Want to just get breakfast this morning?'

A few minutes later she got a response.

'Sure. Not feeling up to sparring?'

'Nope'

The two girls made arrangements and met up at a cafe down the road. They were seated by the hostess and put in their drink orders: coffee for Yumi and just water for Sissi.

"Rough night?" Sissi asked and Yumi groaned.

"Rough nights... plural," Yumi replied making Sissi giggle. Gesturing to the Sissi's water she asked, "I take it you already had your caffeine fix."

"Yep. I had just hung up with Odd when you messaged me." Sissi paused. "Have you talked to Ulrich since... well... you know."

"Yeah, a couple times." Sissi looked a Yumi skeptically.

"Did you _really_ talk to him?" Yumi groaned sleepily.

"He didn't bring up either Anya or Xavier, and I didn't really want to either." Sissi sighed shaking her head.

"If you're not going to tell him how you feel, you should at least tell him you broke up with Xavier." While she knew her friend could be pretty pushy, it seemed to Yumi that Sissi was being more than usual today and it was getting annoying.

"I will... eventually. Can we talk about something else? Like how is Odd doing?" Yumi asked, deflecting the conversation. Sissi shook her head in frustration, but obliged anyway.

"Odd's doing well, and just as happy about finals being over as we are!" The French woman's frustration was replaced by happiness at the change of subject and the two spent the rest of breakfast talking about other things.

After eating the two went their respective homes. For the first time ever Yumi wished that she was back in class. At least that way she'd have something to occupy her mind instead of having hours of free time to herself and her thoughts. She considered calling Ulrich, but being Saturday she figured that he might be out with Anya. Being turned down by Ulrich because of that was something she didn't want to be forced into, so she chose it instead... if for no other reason than to have the illusion of choice...

After lunch she just couldn't take anymore of the bored frustration, so she headed up to Hiroki's room and knocked on his door.

"Come In," he called our from inside.

"Hey." Yumi greeted after walking into her brother's room. He was laying on his bed, reading a book that she didn't recognize.

"Hi Yumi, what's up?" He said dimly.

She opened her mouth just before remembering that the last time they spoke she yelled at him. She frowned apologetically.

"Umm... about the other day..." he put his book down and sat up.

" _I'm sorry,"_ they said in unison and both laughed. After a few seconds Hiroki started talking first.

"I was out of line, and..."

"And you were right about everything," Yumi interrupted. Hiroki just sat with his mouth open for a second. "I was just too stubborn to admit it, just like you said." He closed his mouth and smiled.

"So when are you going to tell him?" Yumi frowned and hesitated before answering.

"He started seeing someone else not too long ago." Hiroki inhaled deeply and held it for a second before letting it go. He stood up, walked over to his sister and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry, Yumi."

"Yeah, me too." After a minute they pulled away. "It's been driving my crazy and I need to get my mind off of it. Would you like to do something? Just the two of us?"

"Sure, like what?" He laughed.

"Want to watch a movie?" He stopped laughing and looked at his sister with a thoughtful expression. He was clearly going to try to bargain, but Yumi found herself unexpectedly looking forward to the challenge of haggling! He suddenly grinned again.

"Ok, but I get to pick which one!" He offered.

"Hmm..." Yumi pretended to stop and think for a minute, though she already knew her counter offer. She sprouted he own wide grin. "Alright, but _I_ get veto rights!"

Widening his grin, her brother cried out, "deal!" Hiroki sprung off his bed and rushed past his sister toward the front room with Yumi giving chase like they were a couple of little kids! Now that she had some distraction, and no longer felt bad about her fight with her brother, Yumi definitely felt better than earlier. Hiroki picked a movie that both of them liked, and they settled in. When it was done, They picked out another one with the same deal they had earlier, but with Yumi choosing the movie and Hiroki having veto rights this time.

After that movie ended it was almost time to eat, but Hiroki left to go out on a date with Milly leaving Yumi alone with just her parents. Dinner was tense and quiet with Yumi wondering whether or not her mom told her dad about everything. By the time everyone was done eating, the silence had started driving her crazy again!

"I'm going for a walk." She told her parents after putting her dishes in the sink.

"Ok sweetie, see you when you get home." Her mother replied.

Being Autumn, the shorter days had just started becoming noticeable and the sun was at that point where while it had already set, there was still enough light to see. It wasn't going to stay that way for long. Reaching the end of the driveway Yumi decided to walk by the factory for old time's sake. As she was approaching the bridge she saw the silhouette of a person with a hood up slowly walking towards the massive entrance that she'd rushed through so many times in the past. Yumi felt her heart race and she picked up the pace to try to... well, she wasn't sure yet but she knew that she _had_ to make sure that this person didn't find the computer lab!

Slowing to a quiet walk she crept in the door and peered into the darkness to try to find the trespasser. He, or she, was next to the edge of the catwalk looking at where the cables that Yumi used to slide down were hanging. Creeping as quickly as she could manage whilst still keeping quiet, Yumi managed to sneak up behind the figure before whoever it was moved again.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Yumi demanded while dropping into a combat stance. The figure turned around slowly."

"Yumi?" A familiar voice called out from under the hood, which was promptly removed. Yumi dropped out of her combat stance in surprised recognition.

"William!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He squirmed uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uhh... I just kinda... umm... needed to come back here." Yumi looked his way in confusion and saw that while he was facing her, his eyes were shut.

"What do you mean?"

"It's sort of an exposure therapy... or something like that. Aelita suggested I try this and I thought it was a good idea..."

"Wait! You've been talking to Aelita?" Yumi interrupted. "Does Jeremy know?"

"Yes, he does. I've talked to him a couple times too." Yumi rubbed her temples for a minute.

"Ok, I'm confused."

"Maybe I should start at the beginning..."

As the two of them made their way down to the computer lab, William told Yumi about his nightmares, insomnia, visions, his chance meeting with Jeremy and Aelita when they were in England, and their offer to keep in touch to help him.

"I had no idea." Yumi said when he was done. The two of them were in the control room; she was in the computer chair, and he was sitting on the ledge of the holosphere.

"Yeah, originally I thought I'd be able to just bury everything and move on if I stayed away from you guys, but isolating myself ended being a pretty bad idea. Talking to Aelita has been a tremendous help. She's an incredible woman." He smiled wistfully.

"Hey, don't go getting any ideas, she's only ever wanted Jeremy!" The Japanese woman joked with a laugh, which the dark haired man returned.

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Their laughter quieted down. "Jeremy's a lucky man though."

"That, he is!" She agreed. The two of them sat quietly for a minute, Yumi slowly spinning the chair idly back and forth.

"About a month ago I was able to sleep all the way through the night for the first time in years." Yumi grinned at his good news. "For the longest time I was a complete loner... no one wanted to hang out with the guy that looked like an addict, not even the addicts because I wasn't actually one of them!" Yumi's grin faded. "But I've been able to start having a social life lately." Her grin started to come back. "And there's someone I've been getting pretty close to in particular... her name is Lily..." Yumi's smile fully returned at seeing the warmth in his face. "I think she likes me..." he said softly before looking back up. He avoided looking at Yumi, but she stared at him, amazed at how different he was from when they first met.

"You've really changed. You used to always say that love made you insane."

"Yeah... but I've been living with the price of recklessness for long enough to have learned my lesson. I'm going to take this nice and slow." Yumi really felt bad for everything he went through, but was pleased that his life was finally starting to look up. "So Ulrich really never told you why I wanted to stay away from you guys?" Yumi winced and looked away.

"No... he knew?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, I asked him to keep it to himself, but I'm surprised that he never told you. It was what convinced him that I was sincere when I told him that he should ask you out." Yumi's thoughts flashed back to when she witnessed that conversation and she blinked back a few tears.

"I did know that you gave him the push he needed. I never got to thank you for that..." Yumi sniffed. "Those years were wonderful," she whispered.

"Jeremy and Aelita told me that you two broke up... it sounds like you wish you didn't." Yumi blinked back more tears.

"Yeah... I did it because he never seemed to have time for me anymore, but then we started talking a couple months later, as friends,and he... made sure to make time for me as much as he could." Yumi sniffed again. "I should have just talked to him... told him how much I needed to reconnect with him. I was just too dumb to think about it like that at the time and instead I just broke it off."

"Then maybe you should tell him that."

"Yeah... maybe," Yumi whispered.

William suddenly stood up, startling Yumi. "Well, I think I've gotten all the therapy that I'm going to get from here, besides I've got to take off soon if I'm going to make my bus!" Yumi didn't feel like staying in the lab any longer either, so she followed him to the elevator. Neither one of them spoke until they were at the entrance.

"It was great seeing you again, and while I'm sorry to hear about how you've been since high school, I'm glad that things are finally starting to look up," said Yumi.

"Thanks, it was good talking to you too." William turned to face Yumi with his eyes shut.

"You know, the Lyoko Warriors' reunion is two weekends from now, you should come by if you get the chance."

"I appreaciate the offer, but I think I'm going to decline. I don't think I'm ready to handle being around everyone yet."

"Alright, that's understandable. Bye, and good luck with Lily," she said with a smile.

"Again, thanks. Good luck with Ulrich!" Yumi winced slightly, but William didn't notice due to his closed eyes. "Bye, Yumi."

Yumi surprised William with a hug, but then they both went their separate ways. On the way home, she hoped that she'd have better luck sleeping that night than she'd been having lately.


	23. The Attack

_Early September_

_The Attack_

Yumi had just ducked another one of Sissi's kicks and countered with a leg sweep of her own, sending the larger girl toppling to the ground! Despite the Lyoko Warriors' reunion weekend starting later that afternoon, the two girls decided to hold their usual Saturday morning sparring session.

"Ok, I think I've had enough for one day!" Sissi exclaimed as Yumi helped her to her feet. "I guess with Odd coming this afternoon, I'm having a hard time keeping focused!" While Sissi's anticipation at seeing her fiance seemed to be causing her technique to be unusually sloppy, Yumi's frustration with her own relationship situation had been making her more aggressive, making the match even more one-sided! She walked over and checked the her phone. Yumi felt her earlier aggression ease up a bit from seeing her friend's excitement.

"And it looked like you've got just enough time to get cleaned up before picking him up from the airport!" Yumi teased. After putting on their jackets, the two girls left the gym.

"Jeremy and Aelita are going to be here tomorrow, right?" Yumi asked. Distracted as she'd been, she had been having a hard time keeping everyone's schedules straight in her mind.

"Yep, and Ulrich is also going to be arriving this afternoon. That would definitely give you two some time to _..."_

"I'm telling him that me and Xavier broke up," Yumi quickly interrupted, "I'll ask how things are going with... Anya... but if things are going well between them, then that's all!" It seemed like Sissi was satisfied with that.

"I was just going to say that you two had time for some catching up!" Sissi smirked. Though you know... Odd and me are going to be spending most of the afternoon with my dad, so if you want a place to _talk_ in private you can use my apartment..." Yumi glared at her friend's obvious insinuations.

"SISSI!"

The tall girl grinned. "And here I thought you'd appreciate the offer!" She teased.

"First, I'm not about to let my hopes get _that_ high. Second... just no!" Sissi kept smirking like she knew something that Yumi didn't.

"Alright, well, here's my stop anyway." The two girls parted ways with Sissi practically skipping as she headed to her apartment.

Yumi finished the trip home and found her house to be empty. She knew her dad was at work, and figured that Hiroki was either with Milly or Johnny. While rummaging through the kitchen for lunch, she found a note from her mom saying that she was at going to be out for a while. Yumi sighed. The last thing she wanted right now was the house to herself with no distractions. Still, her sore muscles demanded relief so after eating a rather unsatisfying prepackaged ramen bowl she headed upstairs and drew up a bath.

As much as Yumi fought against it, her mind started to drift to a certain young brunette man. Fortunately, the soothing heat of the bath was enough to keep her from becoming too upset. Ulrich hadn't been able to nail down exactly when he was going to arrive in France, due to some unexpected delays at the train station, but she knew that he was going to let her know when he arrived. The Japanese woman was certainly looking forward to seeing him again, but also extremely nervous. She had been entirely truthful to Sissi about what she intended to tell him.

After about a half hour of soaking, she decided it was time to get out before she started to look too much like a prune! Making her way back to her room, she sighed yet again and decided to go for a walk. They'd never been her thing before, but after the day she'd met up with William, she had found that just that little bit of physical activity went a long way toward calming her thoughts and had taken one almost every day since then. Leaving her house, she turned left at on her usual route that took her through a couple of neighborhoods and ended up with her passing her right by the factory just before arriving back home.

A little while later, Yumi had just made the turn to where the factory was just visible. She stopped walking as she got the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. After looking around for a moment, she decided to pick up the pace. Just as she was passing the bridge to the factory, a blond haired man ran out of an alleyway in front of her and and another one with a creepy mustache from her side. Both men were rushing straight toward her and she turned around to run only to run straight into a third man...

"Jacques!" Gasped Yumi in surprise.

"Hey there, sweetheart," the man sneered. "Miss me?" Yumi's surprise kept her from reacting for only a moment, but that moment was enough time for the other two men to roughly grasp hold of her arms.

"Not one bit!" Yumi spat just before she kicked at the knee of the person holding her right arm and she used it to pry her left free of her other captor and the sent Jacques staggering back with a quick jab to his face. The woman ran across the bridge toward the factory where she thought she might have the advantage of familiarity and be able lose them in the maze-like back rooms that she knew so well.

When Yumi made it through the entrance, her heart sank as she looked to the right and saw another man with a soul patch. Looking to the left she saw another guy wearing a gray beanie. She stopped in brief indecision, but it was long enough for her to feel a weight hit her in the back of the head, which stunned her and dropped her to her knees. The next thing she knew she was being dragged off to a corner and held with her back to the wall.

Shaking the fog from her Yumi saw Jacques standing in front of her. She also glanced around and saw that she was being held down by Beanie and Soul Patch, with Jacques standing in front of her. Blondie looked to be guarding the entrance, and Creepy Mustache stood a few feet behind Jacques. He was lightly chuckling in a sadistic manner. If looks could kill there'd be nothing left of any of them from the glares they were receiving, but she knew that she didn't have a chance of fighting off all 5 of them.

"What do you want?" Yumi demanded and the dark haired man chuckled.

"You know, I had to pay for the damage to my apartment"

"Yeah, so what?"

"You put the hole there, so you owe me. Today, I'm going to collect," he replied, his voice dripping of malice. Yumi just snorted.

"Good luck, I don't have any money on me!" Jacques laughed and turned to the guys behind him

"Hey boys, she thinks we're looking for money!" His friends echoed his laughter.

"If you did, we'd probably take that too, but I plan on collecting in a different way... and then my boys get a turn." Yumi's eyes shot wide open as she realized what he meant. In a instant she swallowed her pride, sucked in a lungful of air and yelled as loud as she could.

"HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLP..." but her cry was cut short and she saw stars as Jacques' fist met her face.

"We can't have that now, can we." He grabbed her chin and got close enough for Yumi to be able get a whiff of alcohol on his breath. Gathering up whatever saliva she could in her mouth, she spat in Jacques face and took another breath as he recoiled.

"HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPP..." again she was cut short by more pain in her face, but she was prepared to keep on doing this for as long as she was conscious... until she felt Jacques fist in her stomach, causing her to double over.

"Try that again, I dare you," he challenged, knowing full well that she'd be unable to scream with the wind knocked out of her. The knowledge of the inevitable outcome, multiplied by her already tumultuous emotional state overwhelmed her and tears began to fall slowly down her face.

"Aww, she's crying!" Jacques taunted again, eliciting another round of laughter from the others. He grabbed her chin again. "Not so tough now, are you!"

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Jacques turned around and Yumi jerked her face up at the sound of a man bellowing at the top of his lungs. Through her tears she saw a large figure close with Blondie. Upon their blurry forms meeting, the Blondie flew back several feet only to collapse the ground... he didn't get back up. The newcomer started running toward the rest of the group, bellowing again.

The two guys holding Yumi's arms let go and she slumped to the ground. Wiping her tears away, she was able to see the stranger more clearly. His brown hair was a rather unkempt shaggy mane that nearly reached his shoulders and covering his face was a thick beard. As he closed with the man that was standing behind Jacques, Yumi was able to see that he was also one of the most enormous men that she had ever seen. He slowed just long enough to gather his feet together and execute a kick into Creepy Mustache's chest, sending him flying back. Recovering his footing, the man dropped into a stance that Yumi thought looked very familiar.

Jacques stepped up and tried to throw a punch, but the massive Stranger jammed his hand into Jacques' elbow, blocking the punch. Ducking down to seize the knee of Jacques' leg that was in front, he lifted Jacques off the ground entirely and onto his shoulder before dumping him on the ground behind him head first. Jacques didn't get back up either. The Stranger then dropped into a very different, yet still familiar stance. Wiping more tears away, Yumi realized that the Stranger moved just like Sissi... if Sissi was a full two meters tall and about a hundred and ten kilos! Still, the mix of Pencak Silat and Abrazare was unmistakable to Yumi.

Beanie advanced on the Stranger only to receive a large fist in his face after a feinted chop. There was faint spray of red, and a few small white objects flew through the air then rattled lightly when they hit the ground. He too didn't get back up.

The Stranger seized the wrist of Soul Patch before even had a chance to attack, and pushed sharply on the back of his elbow causing it to hyper-extend backwards with a popping crunch. The owner of the now-ruined elbow shrieked in pain just as Creepy Mustache ran up and started throwing punches into the Stranger's side causing him to grunt and let go of Soul patch. The Stranger turned around and caught one of Creepy Mustache's arms and wrestled it behind his back turning him around. Holding Mustache's arm in place with his left hand, the Stranger delivered a fist to the back of his head with enough force to send his opponent rocketing to the ground face-first.

"You stay down!" The Stranger growled at Soul patch, who nodded frantically and kept clutching his arm.

The Stranger turned to Yumi, who stopped wiping her tears away and just let them fall. She closed her eyes, and quietly sniffed. She gasped as she felt herself get scooped up in the Stranger's arms.

"It's alright now, you're safe now," he said quietly. Yumi clutched at and buried her face in his shirt. Her quiet sniffles escalated into louder sobs. "You're going to be ok," he whispered. "I've got you, Yumi." Amidst all the turmoil in her mind, one question rose to the surface:

_How did he know her name?_


	24. Aftermath

_Early September_

_Aftermath_

Upon hearing her name, Yumi gripped the man's shirt tighter while he rocked her gently. Several silent moments went by before Yumi let her grip slack and pulled her face away. After wiping the tears from her eyes to see clearly, she looked up into the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes she'd ever seen... eyes she'd recognize anywhere.

"Ulrich," she uttered breathlessly. He smiled down at her and she laid her head back down on his chest. "Thanks for saving me..."

"I'd do anything for you, you know that." Yumi smiled with her face buried once again in his shirt while he continued rocking her. Her enjoyment of the moment was cut short though when the thought that he wasn't hers anymore hit her like cold water to the face. She pulled her head away and looked toward the ground. Getting the impression that she wanted down, Ulrich lowered her to a standing position.

"So, what happened?" He asked, gesturing to her mostly unconscious assailants.

Yumi winced. "Remember that guy that got violent at the end of that first date I went on?" Ulrich nodded and Yumi pointed at Jacques. "That's him." Ulrich scowled.

"I should have hit him harder."

"Probably, but I'm just glad you came when you did." Ulrich opened his mouth, but then closed it again without saying anything. "What is it?" Asked Yumi.

Ulrich looked away. "It's nothing..." Yumi smiled wryly when she figured out what he must have been thinking.

"Don't worry." Ulrich looked back at her. "I am _definitely_ pressing charges this time!"

"Good." Yumi reached for her phone to discover that it wasn't there.

"I tried calling you earlier but you didn't answer, so I just kinda made my way here. That's when I heard you call for help," _and he came running_. The thought made her smile a little.

"I must have left it at home then." Ulrich pulled out his own phone and called the police.

When they arrived, the police took Jacques and his friends away and got statements from both Yumi and Ulrich. Apparently all five of them had prior arrests and Beanie even had a warrant out for him, which bode very well for the likelihood of conviction.

"I think we need to go somewhere to get you cleaned up." Ulrich said when the police left a while later. Yumi sighed. Her face ached terribly and her left eye was nearly swollen shut, but she didn't want to go home right now. She wasn't ready for her family to see her like this, nor for them to see her with Ulrich either for that matter! Then she got an idea. "How about Sissi's apartment? She's out with Odd and her father, but I've still got a key and she won't mind." Yumi was grateful for her friend's earlier offer.

When they arrived, Ulrich had her sit down on the couch and he left the room. A couple minutes later he came back with a glass of water and some small pills.

"I found some pain medicine, hopefully it helps," he said as he handed them to her before leaving the room again. Yumi took the medicine and a few minutes later Ulrich came back with some ice in a plastic bag, wrapped in washcloth. He knelt down in front of her and despite being very gentle, the sting of the cold against her tender skin caused her to recoil. "I know it hurts, but it'll help, I promise." He brought the impromptu cold pack to her face again and this time she managed to stay still. He took her hand and placed it over the pack then pulled his own away. "There, is that better?" Yumi nodded. He'd always treated her so well. When she thought about how stupid she was to have been to have thrown this away she started to cry again. She tried not to, but it was as if the floodgates had broken earlier and she couldn't hold back anymore. Ulrich reached out his and wiped away the tears from under the eye that wasn't already covered. "It's going to be alright, I promise," Ulrich soothed. Looking into Ulrich's big brown eyes, Yumi knew that this was the moment to talk to him. She gathered her courage, but just as she opened her mouth to do so the doorknob started rattling. Yumi put the washcloth down just before the door opened revealing Sissi with Odd behind her. Seeing the bruises on Yumi's tear-streaked face and Ulrich kneeling in front of her, both of their eyes shot wide open.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sissi screamed and charged, Ulrich's beard and size keeping her from recognizing her friend! He deflected a punch and wrapped her in a large bear hug, lifting her off the ground while pinning her arms. "Let go of me!" She yelled.

"Sissi, it's me!" She kept struggling against him, ignoring his attempts at getting her to recognize him.

"Sissi, that's Ulrich!" Odd shouted, causing Sissi to finally stop struggling. Ulrich put her down and she backed away.

"Ulrich?" She looked up at him. "You're huge!"

"Yeah... I had a pretty extreme late growth spurt!"

"No kidding, I'm really glad I didn't have to fight you for real! And what's with this?" She stroked her chin to indicate his beard.

"I told you he was growing it out," said Odd.

"Oh yeah... I forgot." Sissi admitted sheepishly.

"Anya recommended I try it and I kinda like it." He replied.

"I liked you better without it," muttered Yumi, instantly regretting it when Ulrich turned to look at her with an expression that she didn't quite recognize.

"What happened to you anyway?" Asked Odd, breaking the tension.

Yumi sighed. "You all remember that first date I went on? With the guy that tried to get violent?" Odd and Sissi nodded. "Him and some of his friends ambushed me."

"Oh no! Are you ok!?" Sissi sat next to Yumi and gently placed her arms around her friend in a soft hug.

"Yeah, this is the worst of it. Ulrich showed up before they could do anything... permanant," she gestured to her bruised face and shuddered at what almost happened.

"Way to go, good buddy! I hope you really clobbered them!" Chirped Odd, giving Ulrich a playful punch on the shoulder.

Sissi pulled away from Yumi. "Well, what _did_ happen to Jacques and his goons?"

"Ulrich took them out, then we called the police and they have them now. I'm pressing charges." Yumi put the cold pack back on her face.

"Good."

Sissi looked to Ulrich. "How about you, are you alright?" He lifted the side of his shirt, showing some moderate bruising where Creepy Mustache had hit him causing Yumi to cringe.

"I'll be fine."

"You know," began Odd, "when Mr and soon-to-be Mrs. Einstein get here, maybe they could virtualize you two. You know, just to fix you guys up."

"That sounds like a good idea to me," answered Ulrich. "What about you, Yumi?" Yumi thought about it for a moment. As much as she didn't like starting up the supercomputer, it'd be nice to quickly get rid of the soreness in her face... and belly for that matter, though there were some problems with the idea.

"What am I going to tell my family when I have this giant bruise on my face one day and it's gone the next!"

"You can stay here tonight?" Offered Sissi.

As grateful as she was for the offer, Yumi didn't want to intrude. "No, I couldn't do that. This is your time with Odd." Odd cuddled up into his fiancé's lap and she snaked her arms around his middle, causing both Ulrich and Yumi to roll their eyes.

"It's ok with me. It's just one day and I'm here all week," added Odd. He glanced slyly to Yumi, up at Sissi, and back to Yumi. "Just ignore any noises you hear from the bedroom!"

"ODD!" Yelled Sissi. She pushed him off her lap and he hit the floor with a loud THUMP! With a groan he rolled into a sitting position

"Ok, I deserved that!" Everyone started laughing, even Sissi.

With the arrangements set for Yumi to stay at Sissi's apartment. She let her parents know that she wasn't going to be coming home using Sissi's phone and the next few hours were enjoyed by everyone there. Yumi didn't feel like the extra wheel like she did during spring break, and Odd's jokes and crazy stories kept things from getting too heavy or serious. Sissi once shot Yumi a wink upon catching her stealing glances at Ulrich, which made her blush. Eventually though, it started getting late and everything started to wind down. Ulrich left for his hotel, and everyone else started to get ready to go to sleep.

When Odd was taking his turn in the shower, Sissi started leering at Yumi and she instantly knew why.

"Before you even ask, you guys have the worst timing ever!" Yumi accused her friend.

"What?" Sissi exclaimed, taken aback.

"We got here less than ten minutes before you did and right when I was going to start talking, you opened the door!" Sissi looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Maybe I'll be able to talk to him sometime tomorrow." Yumi pulled the taller woman into a hug to show that she harbored no ill feelings.

"If you want help making that happen, just let me know."

"Thanks. I still don't think I can afford to let my hopes get too high." Yumi looked at the floor. Sissi gave her friend a reassuring squeeze.

"Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll be alright."

The shower stopped running and they both looked in the direction of the bathroom after breaking the hug.

"You can go next if you want." Sissi offered.

"Thanks."

"Let's find you some clothes to sleep in first though."

Later that night, after Odd and Sissi went to bed, Yumi laid awake on the couch. Tired and sore as she was, her anxiety about the next day had sleep remaining just as illusive as ever.


	25. Surprises

_Early September_

_Surprises!_

Yumi woke up the next morning to the sound of grinding coffee beans and a splitting headache. For a moment she couldn't remember where she was, but after a few seconds she was able to pierce through the murkiness clouding her head and remembered the events of the day before. Swinging her feet over the edge of the couch, she started to stretch but stopped when she felt a stab of pain in her belly and she cursed out Jacques. Getting off the couch she walked to the kitchen and found Sissi fiddling a coffee grinder.

"Morning Yumi," the younger woman greeted. "Coffee?" She asked, pouring boiling water into her French Press along with the beans she had just finished grinding.

"Please," grunted Yumi.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"No..." She groaned. "I've got a massive headache... and my face really hurts."

"Oh no," Sissi muttered sympathetically and she pulled a granola bar out of the cupboard. "Here, eat this and I'll also get you some pain medicine." Yumi watched her friend's retreating form and sat down at the dining room table to eat her granola bar just before Odd walked out of the bedroom.

"Morning, Yumi!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Morning..." Yumi muttered, feeling bad about her sour mood as Odd approached her.

"Sissi's told me about everything, and I just wanted to wish you good luck," he said quietly. Yumi smiled with the half of her face that wasn't sore, despite her mood.

"Thanks."

"And if you need the Einstein's distracted so you can get a moment alone with Ulrich, you can leave it to me!" Yumi didn't doubt it and chuckled. Sissi walked back into the kitchen and handed Yumi a couple of the same pills that Ulrich gotten her the day before with some water to wash it down with. While Odd poured two cups of coffee.

"Thanks," said Yumi, directing it at both of them before noticing Sissi peering at her awkwardly. "Uhh... what?" Sissi hesitated for a few seconds before answering.

"I know you normally don't like wearing makeup, but would you like me to try to cover up the bruising?" Yumi took a sip of her coffee and sighed in mild contentment as the hot, bitter liquid warmed all the way to her belly.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks." The two girls made their way to the bathroom and Yumi sat on the closed toilet seat while Sissi started applying foundation.

"I don't have anything in exactly your coloring, but I'll do the best I can." Several unpleasant minutes later she was done. "Ok, go ahead and take a look." Yumi turned toward the mirror. While it wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny, it was definitely enough to hide anything wrong from casual observation and it was better than anything she could have done herself.

"Thanks, Sissi. It looks a lot better." They headed back to the dining area and sat back down with Odd.

_Knock, knock_

All three of them turned toward the entrance to the apartment.

"That's probably Ulrich," said Odd as he got up to get the door. The two friends could be heard greeting each other before they walked into the kitchen. Yumi gasped when she saw him. His hair was still a bit unkempt like before, but he had shaved off every bit of hair off his face... She tried not to read too much into it, but part of her heart was filled with hope. The moment was abruptly interrupted when Sissi groaned audibly and stood up.

"Well, I'm glad that chin-fur is gone because that needed to go! But if you're going to keep your hair longer, then you need to take better care of it!" She grabbed him by the wrist and led/dragged him to the bathroom. "Sit!" She commanded, causing both Yumi and Odd to chuckle.

"OW! That hurts!" Ulrich could be heard yelling.

"Well, If you ran a brush through it more often it wouldn't get this knotted and wouldn't be so bad!"

"You didn't seem to-OW-care yesterday!"

"Yeah, well, I did. I just let it go because you and Yumi were in that fight!" The sound of a spray bottle could be heard.

"Ahh! What was that!? It's cold!"

"Stop fussing! It's just water!"

After a few more grunts from the bathroom and several more laughs from Odd and Yumi, Sissi and Ulrich walked out of the bathroom. When Yumi saw Ulrich, her breath caught in her throat. Sissi didn't do much too much, she just brushed the knots out and gave him a defined side-part, but Yumi thought he looked amazing! When she managed to wrestle her gaze away from Ulrich, she glanced at Sissi. The tall woman had clearly noticed Yumi's staring and winked, causing her to blush.

"Hey! You look like a civilized human being again!" Odd exclaimed, interrupting the moment. "Just in time too. You guys had better finish your coffees because we're supposed to be meeting Einstein and Princess soon!" The two girls looked at their phones and just about guzzled the contents of their mugs when they saw how late in the morning it was. A couple minutes later the four of them walked out the door and headed for the park where they had agreed to meet up with Jeremy and Aelita.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived and the park and sat down at a picnic table. Odd and Sissi on one side, and Yumi and Ulrich on the other. It was like old times again, and the knowledge that the geniuses were coming soon only added to the nostalgia. On multiple occasions Yumi and Ulrich found their eyes locking briefly before they both turned away blushing. It felt like how they were before they had started dating in the first place... it was as if Anya wasn't even in the picture and Yumi couldn't keep hope from trickling in.

"Hey guys!" The four at the table turned to see Jeremy and Aelita, but they were accompanied by Jeremy's parents and an elderly couple. Sissi and Odd immediately jumped out of their seats and ran over to greet the Einstein's, and Ulrich and Yumi weren't very far behind them. There was a lot of hugging all around as this was the first time in a full year that all six of them were together. When things settled down, Jeremy's introduced, and reintroduced as appropriate, his parents to the group, but then he stepped to the side, and Aelita took the hand of the elderly woman

"I'd like you all to meet my grandparents, Neville and Beatrix Hopper" Aelita's grandparents waved.

"Hello everyone," Beatrix began, her jaw trembling slightly. "We can't thank you enough for everything that you've done for Aelita." Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and, Sissi all glanced around nervously between each other and Jeremy's parents. Noticing this, Aelita spoke up.

"We told Jeremy's parents everything." The four youths were clearly shocked, but pink-haired young woman continued. "It's part of my history, and if I'm going to be part of their family I thought they had the right to know."

"That and we were never told that Michael and Eloise didn't know about Waldo's machine so I let slip some things that I probably shouldn't have. After that there was no sense in hiding the rest of the story!" Beatrix said with a laugh.

"We're not going to say anything. Honestly, we're just blown away with what you all managed to accomplish." Eloise chimed in, and with that reassurance, everyone relaxed a bit.

"At such a young age too." added Micheal. "Anyway, we're just here to take Neville and Beatrix back to the ferry station later, as I'm sure you all will probably be together for most of the evening catching up... amongst other things..." He glanced at Sissi and smiled for some reason. "In the meantime we've got some errands to run." After that him and his wife walked off, then Beatrix spoke up.

"We just wanted to meet the people who saved our granddaughter." Yumi had just noticed an absence next to her and glanced around just in time to watch Sissi sit down at a nearby picnic table. Yumi unobtrusively left rest of the group and followed her friend.

"Hey, are you ok?" she asked after catching up.

"I'm alright," Sissi replied with a sigh. "It's just that this," she gestured to Aelita's grandparents, "isn't for me. It's for you guys." Seeing the confused look on Yumi's face, she continued. "I didn't fight for Aelita, or the world. You guys did and I just antagonized you the whole time." Yumi opened her mouth to try to remind Sissi of the times she helped, but before she could, Sissi held up her hand to cut her off. "It's ok, really. It's a little hard being reminded like this, but I came to terms with who I used to be and the consequences of that years ago. When I think back on it, sometimes I'm still surprised that you guys decided to trust me with something so huge, but it still means so much to me that you did." At a loss for words now, Yumi shut her mouth. "So, go. I'll come back after the initial meet-and-greet."

"You're sure?" Sissi smiled genuinely.

"Yes. You guys are heroes. I've admired that about all of you since I found out, and it's about time you got some recognition for it."

"Ok then. Just don't stay away for too long." The two looked over to see Odd starting to walk toward them.

"I won't," replied Sissi. "If nothing else, I think I'll probably need to be introduced as the future Mrs. Della Robbia!" She said with a giggle and smile. Yumi laughed lightly herself, then got up and rejoined the gathering. She passed Odd in the process, but he came back over shortly too. It was several minutes before Sissi rejoined the group and was, as predicted, introduced as Odd's fiance!

The rest of the time spent with Neville and Beatrix was enjoyable, with stories of various things (most of them involving Aelita in some way, from which she grew increasingly embarrassed, to everyone's good-natured amusement) being told by all. A couple hours later Jeremy's parents came back and farewells were said before Neville and Beatrix left.

"Your grandparents are really nice," said Sissi after they had left, and Aelita grinned.

"I know. I'm so glad that we found each other."

"And that's not the only surprise we've got today," chimed Jeremy, getting everyone's attention. Him and Aelita looked straight at Sissi. "We completed what we call Project: Recovery." Sissi took Odd's hand and squeezed it tightly and Aelita spoke next.

"If you want, we can unlock your memories tonight."


	26. Project: Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a reminder that this isn's Sissi's first time to Lyoko in this continuity. the first time was during the Bonus Chapter of A Shoulder to Cry On and took place about 2 1/2 years before.

_Early September_

_Project: Recovery_

"It's really happening then... I'm going to get my memories back," murmured Sissi, as if in a daze. "I'm getting my memories back!" She said louder with excitement just before running up to Jeremy and Aelita, wrapping them both in a tight hug!

"Shall we head to the factory then?" Aelita asked cheerfully when they separated.

"You bet!"

The six of them decided that it would probably be best to go through the secret entrance behind the Hermitage to stay away from prying eyes, even though it took them out of the way by a little bit. While still walking through the woods, Aelita strolled up next to Yumi.

"I didn't want to make a scene earlier," she started quietly, "but did something happen to your face? It looks a little swollen."

"I was attacked yesterday."

"Oh no," gasped Aelita

"It's alright. Ulrich came just in time, and now the people responsible are in police custody." The pink-haired woman breathed a sigh of relief. "That being said, it only looks this good because Sissi's a skilled makeup artist. I was going to ask you if I could be virtualized while you two are here to work the controls."

"Of course! We've got to take Sissi to sector five to unlock her memories anyway." Yumi smiled both for her friend, and the thought of getting rid of the pain in her face!

"Ulrich got hit hard in the ribs a few times, so he'll probably want to be virtualized too."

"That's not a problem. I guess that means everyone is going to Lyoko then." The two walked in silence for a few moments before Aelita spoke again. "I don't know what your fight with Ulrich was about, but I'm really happy to see that you two were able to past it." Yumi chuckled wryly at the irony. If she had pressed charges like Ulrich had said she should, she might not have even been attacked at all!

"Yeah, me too. I didn't like not talking to him." Their conversation ended there because they arrived at the ladder to get out of the sewer.

Deciding that the hanging cables were starting to look a bit unsafe, the six elected to take the stairs instead and then piled into the elevator. On the ride down, Jeremy started going over Project: Recovery with Sissi.

"I'm going to virtualize you, Aelita, and Odd directly into sector 5, where I'll direct you to the tower that you're going to need to enter for the procedure." Sissi started trembling slightly. Odd squeezed her hand that he'd been holding.

"It's ok sweetie, I promise," he soothed. She let go of his hand and pulled him into a hug, which seemed to calm her down.

"Are you alright?" Asked Aelita.

"Yeah," Sissi replied. "I'm just nervous."

"That's understandable," said Jeremy. "While we are one hundred percent confident that the program will work, we don't know exactly what unlocking your memories is going to be like for you." Sissi's eyes got wider.

"What do you mean you don't know!?" Her nerves had become more evident by the wavering in her voice, and the way she squeezed Odd tighter.

"I mean that for all we know, your memories could come back in order, out of order, forwards, backwards, or even all back at the exact same time. It's possible that you may end up reliving some of them too," explained Jeremy. "Overall, it's probably safe to assume it's going to be at least a little bit disorienting."

"And that's where Odd comes in," chimed in Aelita. "You love him and trust him. So just try to hold on to that throughout everything." Sissi pulled away just far enough to look at her fiancé. He put a hand to the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"I'm going to be right with you the whole time," Odd reassured, and it looked like that made Sissi feel at least a little better. The elevator lurched to a halt Jeremy got out at the control room. A minute later everyone else was piling out of the elevator into the scanner room and Jeremy's voice called out over the loudspeaker.

_Alright, go ahead and get into the scanners._

"Jeremy," Aelita called out, "Yumi and Ulrich need to be virtualized too."

 _Umm, why? They're not needed for the procedure at all..._ he sounded confused.

"I'll tell you about it later."

"That and I want to see what Sissi looks like on Lyoko," added Ulrich.

_Ok then. Ladies first!_

Aelita and Yumi got in two of the scanners, and after getting one last hug and quick kiss from Odd, Sissi got in the remaining one.

_Transfer: Aelita, transfer: Sissi, transfer: Yumi_

_Scanner: Aelita, scanner: Sissi, scanner: Yumi_

_Virtualization!_

Aelita and Yumi felt calm at the feeling of being buffeted by air just before the virtualization, but Sissi, being far less familiar to the experience couldn't help but still be a little freaked out by the idea of being turned into data! Moments later it didn't matter as the physiological aspects of feelings such as 'relaxed' and 'nervous' disappeared as the three were virtualized. Yumi touched her face and smiled. The numbness of Lyoko was very welcome compared to the ache that had started coming back full force, the pain medicine she took that morning had worn off. Several seconds after the girls were materialized, they saw the wire-frames of Odd and Ulrich appear and fill in. After they were fully virtualized and made the drop, Sissi walked up to Odd and chuckled.

"I hope you're not laughing at what I look like again," Odd said with a frown.

"No," she replied. "I'm laughing at how strange it is being the same height as you!" Odd laughed.

"Ok, that's fair," he conceded and drew the back of a clawed finger gently across Sissi's cheek. "But you know, you're still just as dashing as I remember!" If she had been in the real world, Sissi might have started blushing.

"Yeah, that musketeer getup is pretty cool!" Exclaimed Ulrich.

 _Alright guys, I hope you still remember how to ride because here come your vehicles!_ Called out Jeremy's voice.

"It's still weird hearing him coming from everywhere," muttered Sissi just before hopping on the overboard behind Odd after it finished appearing. Yumi and Aelita got on the overwing and Ulrich mounted his overbike and they were off.

On the way, Yumi couldn't keep herself from looking at the back of the overbike and wishing she was riding with Ulrich. He startled her when he called out, "hey, Sissi!" Odd flew closer to Ulrich to make conversation easier, and Yumi also flew closer just because she was curious!

"What's up, Ulrich?"

"Do you want to do some sword fighting after the operation?" Sissi's grin stretched from ear to ear. "If you'll be up to it, that is." Her smile didn't dim at all.

"You bet I do! I've been studying a lot of the stuff you sent me!"

"You get em' sweetheart!" Odd exclaimed with a laugh.

"Hey! Who's side are you on!?" Ulrich asked jokingly.

"Sissi's! Did you even have to ask!?"

"As it should be!" Aelita chimed in with a giggle.

_Alright guys, the tower is around the next corner._

"Roger that Einstein!" Exclaimed Odd.

_Oh, and Aelita..._

"Yes, Jeremy?"

 _Would you be able to give me a visual of Ulrich and Sissi's fight? I think I'd like to watch._ Aelita giggled again.

"Of course, Jeremy."

The five of them reached the tower and dismounted their vehicles.

_Ok, so technically only Sissi and Aelita need to be in the tower, but having Odd in there won't effect the procedure at all, and I figure you'd probably want him there._

"Of course I want him in there with me! Why'd you even ask!?"

_Uhh... technically I didn't._

"Oh... yeah..." Sissi said, after thinking about it for a second.

Sissi, Odd and Aelita all entered the tower leaving Ulrich and Yumi alone outside. The two of them looked at each other.

"Can we talk?" They asked almost in unison, causing them both to to laugh.

"I guess I wanted to ask if we could talk later, when Jeremy can't listen in on us." Ulrich clarified.

"Yes, of course." Yumi replied, suddenly nervous about what he wanted to say.

"So... Want to try some sparring while we wait?" Yumi smirked and pulled out her fans thinking that a distraction would be most welcome. "I was thinking unarmed. After all, I owe Sissi a sword fight and it wouldn't do to get devirtualized before then!" Ulrich grinned as he adopted an Abrazare posture. Yumi put her fans away, dropped into her own fighting stance, and smiled right back at him.

"Sounds good to me!"

* * *

In the tower, Aelita stood between Odd and Sissi and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Aelita sang her Song of Creativity, and with a yelp from Odd all three of them started to rise.

"Since when have you been able to do that!?" Exclaimed Odd when they landed on the upper platform.

"It's just an expansion on my Creativity Jeremy programmed to make it easier for all of us to get up here," replied Aelita, having just opened up the tower interface.

"So that wasn't normal?" Asked Sissi.

"Nope. I've never actually been on the top platform before," said Odd while looking around. "It doesn't look any different..."

"Oh." Sissi's nervousness was written all over her face so Odd pulled her close and whispered reassuringly to her while Aelita kept working away at the glowing interface in silence. Eventually she smiled and called out.

"Alright Jeremy, I've got access to the source coding for the Return to the Past program."

_Ok Aelita, I'm sending you the memory inhibitor deletion program now._

"Got it, Jeremy. Initializing now." The interface bleeped a few more times before The pink haired girl turned to Sissi. "Are you ready?" After only a moment of trepidation, she responded

"Yes."

"Ok then." Aelita placed her hand on the panel and her hand started emanating a gentle blue light. "This might be a little... weird. Just remember what we told you about trying to anchor your thoughts to Odd." Sissi nodded and Aelita touched Sissi's forehead and the dark-haired woman's eyes went pure white.

* * *

_Sissi hurriedly tried opening the door in front of her, just to found it locked! looking behind her, the girl's heart sank as she realized she was trapped and the rats that were surrounding her were starting to take notice of the lone defenseless teen._

" _Help! Help! Over here!" She cried out to a group of students led by Ulrich and Odd that looked like they were somehow holding the rats back. They looked in her direction and started talking among themselves. Before they could take any action, Sissi saw Yumi of all people appear on a bicycle and was racing through the swarm and directly toward her. She skidded to a stop right in front of Sissi and grinned._

" _Your carriage, Cinderella!" She said, patting the rack behind the seat. Sissi never thought that she would be happy to see her romantic rival, nor excited to be riding on the back of a bike like that, but right now she climbed on without hesitation and a tremendous amount of appreciation!_

* * *

"Yumi!" Sissi cried out, her pupils coming back into view.

"Is it done?" Asked Odd.

"No," gasped Sissi, just before her eyes went white again. Odd took her hand and looked to Aelita with his eyes full of concern.

"She's ok so far. I'm pretty sure that was just one memory, but I think they're going to start coming quicker."

* * *

" _Don't move," instructed Sissi as she finished tightening the knot on her makeshift sling. "There." She pulled her hands away, but not before briefly caressing Ulrich's cheek with the back of her hand._

" _You know, you're a real good nurse," said Ulrich, inspecting her handiwork. The dark-haired girl smiled._

" _Ah, I'm not just someone who sticks to you like glue huh?" The two teens smiled at each other for a moment until they looked down and noticed water starting to flow across the floor of the elevator._

* * *

"ULRICH!" Shouted Sissi. Her body twitched as her pupils came into view for only an instant.

"You might want to hold onto her..." Aelita suggested to Odd. "I think this could get a little rough." He grabbed hold of his fiancé's hands tightly.

* * *

" _No, wait Yumi." Ulrich grabbed the Japanese girl's wrist before she was able to take off. Hidden from view, Sissi barely contained her laughter as this was the moment she'd been waiting for! "I wanted to tell you something... it's about your letter."_

" _Huh? But..." The confusion on Yumi's face was priceless._

" _No, let me finish," Ulrich interrupted. "You said in the letter that you had certain feelings for me," Yumi's confusion seemed to increase and it was getting even harder for Sissi to keep from bursting out into laughter! "And I wanted you to know that I feel the same things for you. There, I said it!"_

" _But I never sent you any letter, Ulrich."_

* * *

Sissi's pupils returned, and with it her face filled with painful remorse.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and she was gone again.

* * *

_Jeremy was facing the wall and Sissi couldn't believe what Aelita had just asked her to do. She had always thought that the little pinky really liked the nerd!_

" _Umm, Jeremy..." the nerd turned around to see Sissi dropping into a combat stance, and before he could react he was out cold on the floor._

* * *

Sissi's eyes flickered again and her shoulders spasmed once.

"How long is this going to go on for!" Shouted Odd.

"I don't know..." Aelita replied apologetically.

* * *

_The zombies were everywhere. Sissi knew that Ulrich could take care of his side, but the small redhead between the two of them was as good as defenseless and Sissi suddenly felt extremely protective._

" _Don't you touch Milly, you hear!_

* * *

_With a scream, Sissi slid into William, knocking him off the roof and she immediately followed him over the edge. Her heart sank as she realized that this was the end... until she felt a strong hand on her wrist and her momentum stopped with a painful jerk!_

" _Sorry to tell you this Sissi, but you're not as light as you say you are!"_

* * *

" _Yes you never know, you just might sprout a brain!" Sissi fumed at the nerve of the shrimpy pink haired girl!_

* * *

_Sissi knelt down in front of Ulrich's battered form. "Ok, then you'll remember this kiss." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his._

* * *

The pupils in Sissi's eyes were practically strobing. Her body had started convulsing, and it only seemed to be getting worse!

"Aelita, shut it down!" Cried out Odd.

"I can't."

"Then I will!" He pointed his arm to shoot her with a laser arrow to devirtualize her.

"NO!" Aelita shouted as she tackled Odd, causing his shot to go wide.

"The program has to run it's course otherwise it could cause permanent damage!" Shouted Aelita. "Jeremy, what's the status?"

_Everything looks normal from here!_

Odd pushed Aelita off of him.

"You call _that_ normal!" He pointed at Sissi, who was still convulsing just before getting up and running in front of her. He gripped her shoulders and shouted.

"SISSIIIIIII!"

The memories flew by too quickly even tell where one ended and another began. Sissi was being swept away, tossed about in the ebb and flow of her own mind until she heard her name shouted loud and clear... then she heard it again.

"SISSSSIIIIIIIII!"

The voice brought comfort to her. She clung to it while the tide of unlocked memories buffeted her conscious mind, threatening to sweep her away again.

"SISSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Suddenly she remembered who the voice belonged to... her Odd Darling, her love, her future husband. Remembering his love for her, and hers for him, she was able to fully anchor her consciousness... and wade through the sea of memory to search for one in particular.

* * *

_Odd had just shoved an entire cauldron of meatballs and gravy into Nicolas' face, knocking the dork out cold._

" _That is really awful wasting food on a vegetable like him," he quipped causing Sissi to chuckle slightly. She picked up a frying pan and tested its weight a couple times before using it on Herve, who had been planning on attacking Odd with a broom._

* * *

She had found it. The cherished memory she thought was lost forever. She latched onto it and refused to let it go.

As she watched the rest of the memory play out, she noticed that while she did help Odd, she hardly saved his life like he told her all those years ago. She only knocked out Herve and the rest of the time was spent running. Still, even if she thought she didn't do much, Odd didn't see it that way and for that she would still treasure it.

The convulsing stopped, and a couple minutes later so did the flickering in Sissi's eyes. Though she was clearly worn out mentally, a warm smile came to her face.

"I got it," she whispered and fell forward to be caught by Odd. He helped her down into a sitting position and held her close while Aelita descended to the lower platform to give them some privacy.

"You had me worried." He said softly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm back, and so are the memories. It'll probably take a while to sort through them though."

"And I'll help you keep things straight as much as I can." Odd offered causing Sissi to smile again.

"I know."

The two of them sat in each other's arms for a couple minutes before Sissi stood up with Odd doing the same.

"Alright, I'm feeling better now so let's get going," Sissi started then smirked, "I owe Ulrich a sword fight!"


	27. Combat and Questions

_Early September_

_Combat and Questions_

Aelita, Odd and Sissi exited the tower and saw Yumi on the ground with Ulrich over top of her. Embarrassed as all they were to catch the two of them like that, all three of them were filled with hope for them... and were a little disappointed when Yumi pushed Ulrich off and sent him flying with a well placed kick from prone when he tried to stand up!

"Yoo hoo, we're done!" Shouted Aelita with a wave, really hoping that they were just sparring and she wouldn't be interrupting anything too heated... or private. Yumi flipped to her feet with a hand-spring and turned to the trio and grinned at them, her apparent good mood filling the pink haired woman with relief.

"That's great! How're you feeling Sissi?" She asked as Ulrich got to his feet and started approaching too.

"I'm doing pretty good, but having two different accounts of the way a lot of things happened is kinda confusing!" She tapped the side of her head and Ulrich chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll bet!"

"And some things came back a little jumbled, so I think it's going to take some time getting everything straightened out."

"If you ever need help with that, just ask," Yumi offered as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder. Sissi smiled while everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys, this... this really means a lot to me." She frowned and looked away sheepishly. "In some of the memories that came back I was pretty awful..." she looked at Yumi and Ulrich. "Especially between you two, I'm really sorry."

"It's all in the past, so don't worry about it!" Ulrich exclaimed. "You're a good friend _now_ , and that's what counts." Sissi smiled again. She thought of some of the heartfelt conversations they'd had in the past year and couldn't help but agree. Her thoughts quickly turned mischievous though and a smirk formed on her face.

"Well _good friend,_ I'm up to a little sparring... that is, unless Yumi wore you out!"

"you're on!' Ulrich challenged. Aelita, Odd, and Yumi backed away from Sissi and Ulrich as they drew their swords.

"Here's the visual you wanted Jeremy," said Aelita with a giggle.

_Thanks Aelita!_

"You know, I'm not gonna go easy just because you're new at this!" Ulrich shouted and he swung the sword in his left hand from above which Sissi easily deflected to her left side. As his blade was sliding off hers, she kicked Ulrich's hand from the outside and sent his weapon flying off the edge of the platform. Ulrich backed up. "Hey Jeremy, I'm gonna need another saber!"

_Sorry Ulrich, but I saw that and you lost it fair and square!_

"Beginner's luck I suppose..." said Sissi with a smirk. "I don't plan on going easy either!"

"Don't underestimate her, she's a tough opponent!" Called out Yumi, who was speaking from experience! Ulrich grunted an acknowledgment and adopted his old two-handed stance with his sword in front, while Sissi dropped into her own guard with the tip of her blade angled toward the ground.

Ulrich charged again, though this time more cautiously and with a tighter grip on his sword! He cut from above as before, but Sissi raised her sword arm up while keeping the tip of he blade pointed at her opponent catching his blade above her head. She immediately pushed in for a thrust which Ulrich barely managed to parry and caused him to stumble backwards, though he did manage to keep himself from falling.

"Ok, fine then, _super-sprint!_ Ulrich started literally running rings around Sissi and began attacking repeatedly from different directions. Despite the ferocity of his attack, he couldn't break through Sissi's efficient defense, though his speed prevented her from being able to follow up with any attacks of her own either. About fifteen seconds of this went by and Ulrich retreated to a relatively safe distance and shouted, "I've got to admit it, you're pretty good." Sissi smirked again at his praise.

"You're not so bad yourself!" Ulrich flashed her a knowing smile.

"But I'm not out of surprises yet, _Triplicate!_ " Sissi's smirk disappeared and her eyes shot wide open as she suddenly found herself being charged by three Ulrichs! She cocked her arm up high with her blade pointed forward, sprang forward into a lunge, and vanished! Two of the Ulrichs stopped running and stared at the lead Ulrich as it disappeared into a cloud of pixels.

"Whoa!" They heard from behind them and when they turned around they saw a slightly confused looking Sissi. She looked at them, down to her sword, and back up to them then grinned widely.

"That was awesome!" Exclaimed Odd from the sidelines.

"Here it comes again!" Sissi cried out gleefully while she raised her sword like she did before. Both Ulrichs' eyes widened as she sprang forward again... but nothing happened.

 _That ability must have a cool-down period or something._ Called out Jeremy's voice.

"Well that stinks!" She yelled and seeing their opportunity the remaining Ulrichs charged again.

Sissi parried the first Ulrich's swing, but the second sprinted behind her and also attacked. She managed to intercept his blade and attempted to deliver a riposte strike of her own, but Ulrich's speed was too great and he was able to back up before it hit home. She caught a glimpse of the other Ulrich out of the corner of her eye and succeeded in sidestepping his blow, but she was on the back foot and knew it!

The three spectators watched in awe at the incredible display of the Ulrichs' ferocious assault on Sissi's equally impressive, if desperate, defense.

After about a minute, Sissi realized that in order to have a chance at winning, she was going to have to try something very risky! When she gauged that the two Ulrichs had separated far enough, she stepped into the attack of one of them, hopefully out of striking range of the other, and parried the strike with an upward swing of her blade. Grabbing this Ulrich's sword by the hilt, she pulled it out of the way and brought her own back down and through the Ulrich. Knowing that her back had been exposed to the other Ulrich for too long already, she pivoted and blindly swung her blade at shoulder height. Her hope was to either intercept the remaining Ulrich's blade or drive him back. Unfortunately, neither one happened. Ulrich had slashed horizontally at her midsection just as she turned around and the two fighters' blades passed right by each other and both Ulrich and Sissi's attacks solidly connected resulting in both of them being devirtualized!

Aelita, Odd, and Yumi just stood speechless for a minute. Yumi broke the silence first.

"Anyone else got the feeling that we should have tried recruiting Sissi instead of William...?"

"Of course I was rooting for her, but I wasn't actually expecting her to be able to devirtualize Ulrich..." said a very impressed Odd.

"On her first time fighting here too..." added Aelita.

 _Yeah, that was a good match! Thanks for the visual Aelita_.

"No problem Jeremy."

_I'm going to bring you guys back in now._

Yumi watched as Aelita then Odd disappeared into pixels, and moments later she did the same. When the scanner doors opened, she saw Sissi and Ulrich hug tightly for a second. They broke away from each other and Sissi grinned widely at Yumi before walking to Odd leaving her a bit confused. She shrugged and decided to ask about it later.

The six of them left the factory and descended into the sewers. Jeremy and Aelita were in front, talking about something techy that no one else understood. Odd and Sissi were discussing the memories that she'd recovered and trying to make sure that she had them straight. Ulrich and Yumi were bringing up the rear, but unlike the others they were quiet. Yumi knew that Ulrich wanted to talk, and so did she, but not with the others around. She also knew that she shouldn't get her hopes up without knowing what the status with Anya was, but with the looks he'd been giving her all day, and the fact that he shaved after hearing that Yumi preferred him that way she couldn't help it! They made it to the secret door behind the Hermitage, and when they walked outside they saw that it was starting to get dark out. Unfortunately that meant that Yumi was going to need to get home soon... but Ulrich seemed to have been thinking the same thing.

"Hey, can we talk before we leave?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, sure," she replied as she felt her heart start to race.

"Hey, we'll catch up in a few minutes," he called out to the rest of the group and they left the two of them alone, thankfully without comment. Ulrich walked up to the fence in front of the house and put his hands on it. "Yumi, I've been thinking a lot lately," he started while facing away from her. She walked up to the fence as well and stared in the same direction he was.

"Yeah, me too," she replied. "You can go first though." He stared into the woods for a minute.

"I heard that things didn't work out between you and Xavier..." Yumi looked at Ulrich in surprise.

"How did you know that?" Ulrich sighed.

"It doesn't really matter right now, but I guess I just needed to hear it from you." Yumi looked forward towards the woods again, but didn't know what to say so she just waited for him to continue. "I know that we talk more than two people that broke up normally do." Yumi nodded, but wasn't sure where he was going with this so she still said nothing. "Honestly, with how close we've stayed... or became again, maybe... I dunno..." Yumi noticed he was tightly squeezing the fence posts his hands were on. "Anyway, I just can't keep going on like this." Yumi's breath hitched in her throat and she felt tears welling up as she started to fear the worst. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. Ulrich took a deep breath and kept going. "I just can't leave without telling you how I feel." They slowly turned and faced each other. Yumi saw that he was just as close to tears as she was and her heart felt like it was about to beat right out of her chest. "The truth is that I don't want to move on. I know that you said that as long as we were still long distance that there couldn't be an _us_... but I want to try again. That is..." he looked away sheepishly. "Only if you want to." For a moment Yumi just stared with her mouth slightly agape, but before she knew it she found her face buried in his shirt with her arms wrapped tightly around him. The tears that had welled up minutes ago now flowed freely, and the fear that gripped her heart disappeared into the indescribable relief and joy that replaced it. "I love you Yumi, and I always have." Yumi felt the wetness from him crying on top of her head. She pulled away to look up into his face and could see wet trails running down his face.

"I... I am so, _so_ sorry for everything I put you through." He smiled.

"That doesn't matter anymore. We're here, together, and that's what matters!" Yumi returned his smile.

"I love you too Ulrich." His smile grew even wider. "There's something that I have to do right now." Ulrich never lost his grin, but he looked at her curiously for a moment, just before she had reached up and pulled his face down to hers. Another wave of tears fell as their lips met and she let herself get swept away in the rush of emotion that accompanied the kiss. She had completely forgotten the kind of fireworks kissing Ulrich caused in her, and how much she missed and needed it!

After they separated for air, though still held onto each other tightly, a thought popped into Yumi's head. "I've got to ask, What happened with Anya?" She asked.

"She was nice, but it wasn't going to work out so we only lasted a total of two dates. That and she found something..."

Yumi furrowed her brow quizzically. "Found something?" Ulrich pulled away and took her hands in his while he nibbled his bottom lip nervously.

"Yumi, I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to know that if you need to say no right now, I'll understand." Yumi was confused. "Yumi, somehow we've managed to rekindle the spark of our relationship and we were really only trying to be good friends. On top of that, it was entirely over the phone. To me, that's practically a miracle. If we can do that, I think that if we can be just a little more... intentional... then we can handle anything together." He let go one one of her hands and started digging in his pocket. Yumi clapped her hands to her mouth in shock when he pulled out a small velvet box. "You're going to think I'm crazy for asking this now... heck, _I_ think I'm crazy for asking, but I need you to know how serious I am about _us_." He dropped to one knee and opened the box toward her, exposing a simple, yet elegant ring. It was a somewhat thick white gold band with a black onyx center stone, strikingly contrasted with two diamond side stones.

_Yumi, Will you marry me?_


	28. Full Reveal

_Early September_

_Full Reveal_

Yumi just stood there with her hands over her mouth staring at the ring. After several seconds she pulled her hands down enough to speak and took several shaky breaths.

"Yeah... I guess you are crazy..." she whispered. Ulrich just smiled slightly and closed the box.

"It's ok, I underst..."

"But I'm never letting you go again!" Yumi interrupted and before he had the chance to get up she rushed forward, flinging her arms around his neck. Ulrich pulled her even closer and stood up, lifting Yumi off her feet completely causing her to giggle uncharacteristically. A moment later, he put her back down and backed away just a little. Yumi held out her left hand and Ulrich slid the ring on her finger which made her absolutely giddy! There was just enough moonlight for her to get a good look at it, and she thought it was perfect. Ulrich must have put a lot of thought into it to go with the onyx as opposed to a more traditional diamond. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him again in her excitement before they got moving.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you are _really_ crazy you know that!?" Yumi exclaimed when the two of them started walking through the woods.

"Yeah, I think we established that!" Ulrich replied with a laugh.

"No, I mean I can't believe you bought me an engagement ring when we weren't even dating!"

"Umm... actually, we _were_ dating when I bought it." Yumi looked up at her new fiancé in confusion and waited for him to elaborate. "Do you remember last year when I said that I wanted to talk to you about something?"

"I completely forgot about that!" Yumi exclaimed with a gasp, and Ulrich looked over to meet her gaze.

"This was it." Yumi stopped walking as her heart sank all the way to her stomach.

"You were going to propose last year... and instead I broke up with you."

"Yes." They stood in silence for a moment, then Yumi gasped as she came to another realization. "That's why you were working so many hours!" She exclaimed. "You were saving up to buy this ring, weren't you!?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Honestly, when first you broke up with me I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say or do. Then we spent so long without talking that I figured that I'd lost my chance." Yumi looked down and felt herself start to cry again.

"I was an idiot." Ulrich reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Hey," he said softly, tilting her head up gently by her chin, "you didn't know, and it's not like I went out of my way to tell you."

"Yeah, but..." he put his finger over Yumi's lips.

"No 'buts.' We can talk about it another time if you need to, but not tonight."

"Ok," she replied meekly. Ulrich took her face in his hands.

"And no more tears either. Do you know why?" He grinned at her.

"Why?"

"Because we're getting married, and that makes this the happiest night of my life!" With that reminder, Ulrich kissed her and Yumi felt her heart melt along with her jumbled emotions. When they broke away again, Yumi chuckled.

"I guess we need to tell the others now," she said, causing Ulrich to laugh quietly as well.

"Yeah, aren't they going to be surprised!" His face fell slightly. "I guess we need to tell our families too."

"Hmm," sighed Yumi. "I know my family is going to be very surprised, but I think they'll be fine. They've always liked you. I'm a little worried that you didn't have the 'I want to marry your daughter' conversation with my dad though. I know he would have liked that."

"Yeah thats true, but I'm more worried about mine."

"I know." Yumi smiled at him and stroked his cheek. "But I'll be right there with you." Ulrich wrapped her in another hug.

"Thanks, Yumi."

The sound of twigs snapping made the two of them separate and look around, both on high alert.

"Hey, I thought you said that you were only gonna be a few minutes, not thirty!" Odd's voice called out, right before he stepped into view followed by Sissi, Jeremy, and Aelita.

"How long have you guys been there?" Demanded Yumi.

"Not long at all," replied Aelita.

"Just long enough to see that you two have gotten pretty cozy again," teased Sissi, causing both Yumi and Ulrich to blush.

"Well, I can't believe you told Ulrich about Xavier!" Yumi accused the tall woman. "Especially after I already said I was going to today."

"I didn't volunteer the information! He asked and I wasn't going to lie to him," she rebutted. "Besides, it certainly looks like it worked out so who really cares!" Yumi felt her cheeks flush even further.

"I asked because I got a call from William of all people telling me about the talk you two had," said Ulrich, causing everyone's heads to jerk toward him in surprise... everyone but Aelita anyway.

"So that's why he wanted your contact info. He asked for it a couple weeks ago, but wouldn't say why," she said.

"Yeah, and when I mentioned Xavier he said it sounded like that must have been over because you didn't say anything about him. I kinda got my hopes up, but I wanted to make sure."

"Wait, you guys have been talking to William?" How did that happen?" Asked Odd.

Jeremy, Aelita, Ulrich, And Yumi filled the others in on their respective encounters with William while they finished making their way out of the woods. After all stories were told, they all found themselves with a lot more respect for the last Lyoko Warrior.

"Has he said anything more about Lily?" Yumi asked her pink-haired friend, just as they were entering Sissi's apartment complex. Aelita grinned widely.

"She asked him out last week!"

"That's wonderful!" Exclaimed Yumi. "How much does she know about his past?"

"Just that he has trauma in his past that causes nightmares, and that we've been working through it. She seems very understanding though, and I think she's been good for him." The thought that he might get his own 'happily ever after' made both Yumi and Ulrich smile. Sissi, on the other hand, had just noticed Yumi had playing with her new ring now that she was illuminated by the light in front of her apartment.

"Yumi...?" She started, getting everyone's attention, just before pointing to her friend's hand. "What's that?" She asked flatly with her eyes wide in shock, and Yumi blushed yet again.

"... an engagement ring..." she admitted sheepishly. Sissi turned to Ulrich, the surprise written clearly on her face.

"You never said you were going to ask _that_!?"

"I didn't exactly have a lot of time to talk to you..."

"Wait, you two are getting married!?" Exclaimed Jeremy.

"Yeah, we are," Ulrich answered as he put his arm around Yumi's waist.

"I was just as surprised as you are," Yumi said as she smiled warmly up at her fiancé. "But I'm glad that he did."

"You know, I don't know how I manage to keep you two straight!" Blurted Odd. "First you go from 'sort of together,' to 'just friends,' to dating, to broke up but still friends, to not speaking at all, back to friends, and then you completely skip dating again and jump straight to engaged! If the next step in your guys' relationship isn't 'married,' at this point I think my head's going to explode!"

"Yeah, like your guys' history is normal!" Ulrich retorted.

"Hey! At least ours was a steady progression: loathing, awkwardly accepting of each other, friends, best friends, dating, then engaged!" Argued Sissi, making small chopping motions with her hand at each point as if on a line for emphasis. "See, normal!"

"I guess," Ulrich replied.

"If you think about it, none of us have had what would be considered a normal courtship." Interrupted Aelita. The rest of the group looked at her, all reminded that her history with Jeremy had the strangest story of all of them! "But none of that matters at all." She walked up to the newly engaged couple and gave them a hug. "Congratulations you two." She pulled away with a gleam in her eyes. "Now let's see the goods!" Yumi held out her hand and the other two girls fawned over her ring for a minute.

"Nice job, Ulrich. It's so... 'Yumi,'" complimented Sissi.

"Yeah, he did good," said Yumi, once again beaming up at Ulrich. "I'd love to stay all night again, but I think we need to go see my family, and I'm sure you'd like some alone time with Odd." Odd and Sissi looked toward each other affectionately.

"Yeah, I would."

"Well, we're very happy for you two," said Jeremy. He put his arm around Aelita's waist. "And good luck with your families!"

"I think my family is going to be fine, it's Ulrich's that we're worried about," replied Yumi and all six of them groaned, knowing how Ulrich's father was.

After that goodbyes were said, hugs were given and the three couples went their separate ways.

"This last year may have been really hard, but I honestly think that we'll be better in the long run for it," said Ulrich when the others were out of earshot.

"Why do you say that?" Asked Yumi.

"Because I've learned a couple of very important lessons." Yumi looked up at him in expectation. "I've learned that it's not good to be a workaholic, no matter how good your reasons are!" Yumi laughed, "and to never take you or our relationship for granted."

"Those are good lessons." Yumi looked forward again and saw her house just up ahead. "I learned just how deep your loyalty goes, and how far you're willing to go to support me. Thanks for that. More importantly though, I learned to just talk and be open if somethings bothering me with us... and to never leave you again!" They laughed for a moment, then Yumi looked down sheepishly. "You really are the right man for me." Ulrich took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. They arrived at Yumi's front porch, but before going in they turned toward each other. Yumi took both of Ulrich's hands in hers and smiled as she looked up at him.

"Whatever happens in there, it doesn't change my answer, ok?" Yumi reassured Ulrich. He nodded and returned her smile. "I love you Ulrich... and saying that again feels _really_ good!"

"I love you too Yumi, and I know what you mean." He kissed her quickly, then they walked into the house and Yumi closed the door behind them. She put her left hand into her pocket for the moment and clasped her right hand tightly to Ulrich's left. She took a couple deep breaths to calm her nerves, then called out.

"Mom, I'm home!"


	29. Families

_Early September_

_Families_

"Mom, I'm home!" Shouted Yumi.

"There you are!" Yumi's mother was heard calling out from the kitchen. "I was starting to get worried." She walked into the front room and was quite startled when she saw Ulrich, but recovered quickly once she realized who it was.

"Hello Mrs. Ishiyama," the young man greeted.

"Ulrich, what a nice surpri..." Akiko trailed off as her gaze drifted to Ulrich and Yumi's hands clasped tightly together. A warm smile spread across her face as she looked back up at Ulrich. "Welcome back dear. It's wonderful to see you again."

"Thanks. It's good to see you too." He replied, grinning right back.

"Mom... could you call Dad and Hiroki in here, we've... got something to tell all of you." Akiko looked at her daughter curiously. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but did as she was asked.

"Hiroki, Takeo, could you come to the front room?" She called.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Takeo's voice was heard shouting grumpily. "What's this about?" He demanded as he was entering the room. "Ulrich?" His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw Ulrich standing there, but his expression was otherwise unreadable.

"Hello, Mr. Ishiyama," Ulrich greeted politely.

"Hiroki?" Yumi's mom called out again.

"I'll be down in a minute." Yumi's brother yelled down from his room. He was probably in the middle of a video game. Yumi shook her head in annoyance.

"Hiroki, Ulrich's here in the front room!" She shouted, knowing that would get his attention immediately.

"COMING!" Some loud shuffling could be immediately heard, followed by a THUD, causing everyone to turn toward the stairs and wince. "I'm okay!" Hiroki yelled, just before racing down the stairs two at a time. He stopped when he made it to the bottom and stared up at Ulrich. "Whoa, you're huge!" He exclaimed, causing the large man to chuckle.

"I've been getting that a lot lately."

Now that everyone was present, Takeo turned to the young couple with his expression still unreadable. "It's good to see you Ulrich, but what is this about." Ulrich and Yumi glanced at each other and Ulrich gave his fiancé's hand a reassuring squeeze. Yumi's heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest while she shyly turned her gaze away and to the floor. She slowly pulled her left hand out of her pocket and placed it on the front of her right shoulder, displaying her ring. Yumi heard her mother gasp, but for a few seconds nothing else could be heard and she was too afraid to look up. Her mother walked forward and Yumi's heart started pounding even harder as she felt her hand being gently pulled off her shoulder.

"Oh Yumi, it's beautiful," said Akiko, causing Yumi to choke up and finally look forward, blinking back a few tears. Her mother had a gentle smile on her face as she looked from the ring, to her daughter, then to Ulrich. "Congratulations you two." She looked back to Yumi. "I told you these things have a way of working themselves out."

"Alright Sis!" Hiroki exclaimed as he walked over to Ulrich and patted him on his upper arm. "Looks like we're gonna be brothers after all!"

"AHEM!" Everyone quieted down and turned to look at Takeo, who had cleared his throat loudly. He looked at Ulrich. "I would have liked to have discussed this with you beforehand."

"Takeo..." Akiko started to speak softly, but Yumi's dad held up his hand to her indicating that he wasn't done speaking. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Ulrich for several seconds as if sizing him up. Yumi's didn't know how much her mom had told him, and at that moment the tension in the air was almost tangible. He slowly turned to face his daughter. "It's a good thing I approve of the match," he said flatly. A couple awkward seconds later he tossed his head back and laughed loudly, causing the tension to dissolve. He stepped up to Ulrich and shook his hand, then turned back to Yumi with a smile on his face. "Your mother told me about your talk a couple weeks ago, so I am happy for you." He glanced back and forth between the two a couple times before settling his gaze back on Yumi. "But he's a good man, so don't leave him again. That was dumb!" Hiroki snorted out a laugh and Yumi smiled.

"I won't," she replied seriously. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at her parent's incredulously for a moment. "You're both taking this a lot better than we expected..."

"If it was with anyone else, we'd be very concerned, but we've always liked Ulrich. You know that." She explained, and looked up at the young man fondly, then back to her daughter. "After you told me about how you two had reconnected, we started hoping for the best because you were always so good for each other. While you coming home tonight announcing your engagement is a bit of a shock, we really are very happy for you." She glanced down at Yumi's hand for a second then peered at Ulrich. "If I had to guess, I'd say that you probably got that ring for last year, didn't you?" Yumi stared at her mother in shock for figuring that out so easily while Ulrich nodded and both he and her mom chuckled. "I thought so. How long are you in town for?" She asked him.

"Four more days, but then I've got to get back to start conditioning for soccer again."

"You should stay here. You've been gone a long time and there are lots of things to talk about and catch up on," said Takeo. Everyone else gave him some strange looks from suggesting that his daughter's significant other spend the night. "That is, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch," he clarified and Ulrich grinned.

"That sounds good Mr. Ishiyama, thank you. I think I'll stay at my hotel tonight though because my stuff is already there, but I can cancel the rest of the reservation and be by first thing in the morning!"

"That sounds wonderful Ulrich." Chimed in Yumi's mom. "I'll make a big breakfast in the morning to celebrate. By the way, have you told your parents yet?" Akiko asked. Ulrich's expression darkened and he sighed deeply.

"No... but I guess I should probably get it over with."

"I'm sure they're going to be happy for you," Akiko said unconvincingly. She meant well, but all the Ishiyama's knew what Ulrich's relationship with his parents, particularly his father, was like so she wasn't very successful.

"Thanks, but somehow I doubt it..."

"Would you like to go upstairs for some privacy," she offered. Ulrich nodded in thanks then headed towards Yumi's room. While Yumi watched him go, she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder.

"You should be there with him." Yumi jerked her head toward her mother in surprise. Both her and Ulrich being in her room alone had been off limits since they started dating. "You're getting married. That changes the rules a little bit, and I think he's going to need you right now." Yumi smiled at her mother's understanding. "Just don't expect us to be ok with him spending the night in there," Akiko whispered in her daughter's ear, causing her to blush. Yumi walked to her room and knocked. A moment later Ulrich opened the door, and since he knew about her parent's rules too he was rather confused. Yumi just stepped up and gave him a warm hug.

"My mom said I should be with you while you call your parents. I thought so too," she said when she pulled away. The two of them walked over and sat on the bed next to each other.

"I'm glad we've at least got your family's support, that means a lot," Ulrich said while pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, it does." There was an awkward pause for a minute.

"You know that however this goes, it's not you, right? It's just how my father is."

"I know. You probably should stop stalling though." Ulrich sighed.

"You're right. Do you want to listen? I can put it on speaker." He offered.

"Yeah, I think so." Ulrich scrolled through his contacts until he found his dad's entry. "Hey, it's going to be alright," Yumi took Ulrich's hand in hers and smiled at him.

"Thanks, I hope so." Ulrich pressed 'call' and put it on speaker.

"Ulrich?" His father's voice sounded irritated, like Ulrich was interrupting something.

"Hello to you too..." he muttered, but only loudly enough for Yumi to hear. She gave Ulrich a little nudge to get him to start talking.

"Hi Dad."

"What's going on...? Wait, you're in France right now, aren't you? I hope those good-for-nothing _friends_ of yours haven't gotten you into trouble." Ulrich just looked at his phone with disgust as his father spoke.

"First off, no! Second, I'm here with Yumi and you're on speaker!" He retorted.

"Yumi? You mean that little Japanese girl who dumped you? Why are you with _her_!?" It was Yumi's turn to look disgusted at how rude Ulrich's father was being, after being told that she could hear everything!

"Yeah, we did break up, but we kept in touch with each other. I'm just letting you know that we got back together again... In a big way." So far Ulrich was succeeding in holding his temper back, but just barely.

"Humph. So she called you back like a yo-yo and you came running. That's pathetic. Why did you even bother calling if that's all anyway? This had better not interfere with your schooling" Yumi couldn't take any more.

"Are you serious..." she started, but Ulrich cut her off.

"She _never_ treated me like a yo-yo, or badly in any way!" He shouted. "We were even able to stay very good friends throughout this last year! Besides, _I'm_ the one who asked if she wanted to try again and it turns out she did! I called you tonight to tell you that we're going to be getting married!"

"WHAT!" Ulrich's dad sounded more shocked than angry at the moment, but both of them knew that was coming next so Ulrich didn't let up.

"She is the love of my life, and if you can't show a little more respect then that to my future wife, then you can forget about _ever_ seeing your grand-kids!" Ulrich yelled before hitting the 'call end' button. He was breathing heavy and he looked tired. Yumi felt awful for him and started rubbing comforting circles on his back until he seemed to calm down a bit. A few minutes later Ulrich spoke again. "I'm sorry I lost my temper... maybe I shouldn't have had that on speaker after all."

"It's alright, you didn't know it was going to be that..." Yumi was cut off by Ulrich's phone ringing. He rolled his eyes before looking at the display.

"It's my mother."

"Are you going to answer?"

"Yeah. I probably should." He answered, but kept it off of speaker this time. "Hi Mom." There was a couple seconds pause. "Maybe, I'll ask." Ulrich looked to Yumi. "She wants to talk to both of us... are you up for that?" She nodded, then he fiddled with his phone for a second. "Ok, you're on speaker now."

"Hello Yumi, it's been a long time. First, I'd like to apologize for my husband's behavior. He gets cranky in the evenings. He's more of a morning person.

"That's because his happy pill wears off around dinner time..." muttered Ulrich.

"Anyway, Your father told me the news and while we're happy for you, it's just that it's so... sudden and we're very surprised." Ulrich sighed. While it wasn't the support that they were getting from Yumi's family, his mom's reaction was at least reasonable. "Do you know when and where the wedding is going be?"

"No." Yumi spoke up. "We haven't talked about that yet, but I think we're going to wait until after we're both done with college." Yumi looked up at Ulrich and he nodded. "Yes, Ulrich is nodding in agreement."

"That's probably smart." There was a long pause. "Ulrich, you really should try talking to your father again sometime. You just caught him off guard, and you know how he doesn't like surprises." Ulrich closed his eyes and sighed. "You know he really is proud of you and they way you're putting yourself through school on your own."

"Mom, I never told either of you this before, but I turned down financial help from you guys because it's one less thing he has to hold over my head, and one more step toward being free of him." A sharp gasp was heard over the phone. "I'm not talking to him again tonight... and not after tonight either for that matter." Ulrich took another deep breath. "I'll still talk to you, and Dad will invited to the wedding with you, but if he wants any sort of relationship with his son, his future daughter-in-law, and any kids that we might have, then he needs to think long and hard about how he needs to change. Until then, I'm done dealing with him... for good." There was several seconds pause, and when Ulrich's mom replied, it was barely a sobbing whisper.

"I'm sorry you feel that way..."

"The one who needs to be sorry is Dad."

"Ok... I love you Ulrich."

"I love you too mom and I'm sorry that this hurts you, but I can't keep doing this. Goodbye." He hung up and Yumi immediately wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Ulrich." He tightly returned the hug and Yumi felt a few drop of wetness fall onto the top of her head.

"It's ok, I should've done that a long time ago. I'm only sorry that it happened tonight, but I couldn't handle him talking about you like that." They sat like that for several minutes until the warmth and comfort of each other's embrace made them both feel better. "I've got one more message to send, if you don't mind. It's a much happier message," Ulrich said after they pulled away.

"I don't mind, but to who?"

"I told William that I'd let him know how it went," Ulrich replied and they both chuckled. He pulled out his phone again and Yumi watched him type out the message over his shoulder.

'She said yes to both! Thanks for the calling when you did. By the way, I heard about Lily, good luck man!'

A few seconds later there was a reply.

'That's awesome! Glad the ring didn't backfire, good luck. P.S. Lily's great!'

Both Yumi and Ulrich smiled.

"Ok, we can go now."

The two of them left the room and went downstairs to the waiting Ishiyama family. Yumi's mom walked up and wrapped Ulrich in a motherly hug.

"We didn't hear everything, but I think we heard enough."

"Yeah... I was kinda loud, sorry." She pulled away and looked up at him.

"You don't have to apologize. Are you ok?" Ulrich smiled at her concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She turned to Yumi.

"How about you?" Her daughter nodded and she turned back to her future son-in-law. "That's good. We were all talking while you were upstairs, and we want you to know that you are always welcome in this family." Ulrich's grin grew wider.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, if you both are alright, then we're going to bed. We'll see you in the morning." Yumi's mother informed the young couple before her and her husband headed upstairs.

"I'm going to bed too, It's good to have you back Ulrich!" Exclaimed Hiroki with a wide grin, playfully punching Ulrich in the arm. He also went upstairs and Yumi and Ulrich were left alone, probably intentionally. Fortunately, the young woman had a great idea of what to do with the time.

"Ulrich, do you want to watch a movie?" The thought of cuddling up to Ulrich for the first time in years was very enticing indeed! Ulrich seemed to share her enthusiasm and his face lit up.

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot." He started walking over to the movie cabinet, but she grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Not from there... I'll be right back." She kissed his cheek quickly just because she felt like it, then ran to her room grinning madly. Her grin faded some as she carefully pulled down a shoe box from top shelf in her closet and checked the contents. Taking a deep breath she descended the stairs much more slowly than she ascended them to her waiting fiancé. She put the box down and nervously picked out a particular movie case. The cover had a picture of a large, but cute furry creature with big round eyes and a large leaf on his head to guard against the rain that was falling. Next to that giant fluff-ball was a little girl with a pink umbrella, who didn't seem to know what to make of her fuzzy neighbor.

"This movie, and ones like it are kind of a guilty pleasure..." she said shyly as she slowly handed the film to Ulrich. "It's not flashy or really even all that exciting, but it's been my favorite since I was a little girl."

"My Neighbor Totoro," he said out loud, then he smiled at Yumi. "Alright, we'll watch it then." Yumi got the movie set up and they settled into the couch together.

When the ending credits start rolling about an hour and a half later, Yumi looked up at Ulrich nervously.

"Well... what did you think?" She asked.

"I liked it, it was cute," he replied with a grin. "You said you've got more?" Yumi nodded. "I'd like to watch them with you." Delighted, Yumi happily nestled into his side again and felt a warmth spread throughout her when she felt him kiss the top of her head.

"I'd like that too."

The two of them just enjoyed sitting like that for a long while until Ulrich headed out. When Yumi made it to bed herself, she found that sleep came easier than it had in months.

Morning came, and Yumi woke to the smell of miso soup and fish*. At first she couldn't shake the feeling that she had dreamt the events of the day before. Without opening her eyes, she reached for her left hand with her right. Starting with the tip, she slowly felt her way down her ring finger until she bumped into something solid. With a deep breath, she looked down at her hand and her gaze was met the jet-black sheen of an onyx stone flanked by two diamonds glittering beautifully in the morning sun. She leapt out of bed, threw on some clothes, and ran down the hall to the top of the stairway.

She saw a large brunette man sitting on the couch facing away from the staircase.

"Ulrich?" He stood up, turned around, and grinned widely. Yumi returned his smile, bounded down the stairs and into his waiting arms.

*It may seem strange to us westerners, but fish and miso soup are both common in traditional Japanese breakfast. I looked it up! ;)


	30. Coming Clean

_Late September_

_Bonus Chapter: Coming Clean_

Almost a month later, Yumi had just finished up her morning classes on the first day of the semester. She had been double checking her afternoon schedule while eating lunch in the cafeteria when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hi, Yumi," She looked around and was surprised to see Xavier!

"Um... Hi..." she replied awkwardly.

"Hey, I won't make it weird if you don't." He said with a disarming chuckle.

"Alright," she replied, slightly more at ease. She gestured to the seat across from her. "Want to sit?"

"Sure." He dropped his book bag to the floor and plopped down. "I just stopped by because I heard a rumor that Jacques and some of his buddies got arrested for assault... and a few other things. I thought you'd like to know, given your previous run in with that piece of... sludge." Yumi scowled at being reminded of the jerk, the trips to court she'd already taken, and knowing she had more visits coming up!

"I know, I'm the one they attacked..." She replied darkly.

"Whoa! Are you ok!" He exclaimed and sprang forward in surprise, catching the eyes of a few other students present.

"I'm fine. They weren't able to do any serious or lasting damage." Xavier sighed in relief and sat back down. Yumi figured she may as well tell him the rest of the story. "All my friends from high school were coming into town for a get together that weekend and Ulrich came that afternoon. I got lucky that he happened to be around the corner when I started calling for help. He fought them off then called the police."

"Well, I'm just glad that you're ok. I heard there were a bunch of them, he must be one heck of a fighter!"

"There were five of them. He's probably about as skilled as Sissi and me, but he's way bigger and stronger."

"Dang! That sounds like the wrong guy to mess with!" The young man shook his head then sat thinking for a moment. "You never told me your friends were all coming here..."

"Yeah, it kinda never came up. I would have told you eventually if we... well, you know." He chuckled and waved his hand.

"I get it, it's not a big deal." There was a few seconds of silence. Yumi looked down at her schedule and noticed that the way she had been holding it in her left hand had been concealing her ring. She stared intently at where it would be if it wasn't hidden while thinking about how much to tell Xavier. She looked back up to see him eyeing her curiously and decided to tell him the whole truth.

"There's something else I never told you..."

"Oh...?" His eyebrows raised in surprise.

"It's about Ulrich... we dated for a long time, and a little over a year ago I broke up with him. It wasn't anything he did. It was because of the distance and schedules."

"I'm not surprised to hear that. I wasn't sure exactly what the story was, but I figured that there was more going on between you two just from the way you talked about him. It just always sounded more... affectionate than when you spoke of anyone else." Yumi blushed, though after his last display of perception she was hardly shocked to hear of his suspicions.

"Yeah... and after you and me broke up I figured out that I missed him much more than I wanted to admit..."

"At least you thought about what you really wanted. That's good," he said quietly.

"Yeah... I'm sorry. I really wasn't trying to lead you on or..." Xavier put his hand up.

"It's ok, really. We tried and it didn't work. That's life sometimes and I'll be fine. While I liked you, still kinda do if I'm being honest, it never got to the point where I would have said that I loved you. Truthfully, when I asked you out I wondered if you still had at least some feelings for the guy anyway. Though, at the time I didn't realize just how strong they were..."

"Me neither." Yumi replied softly.

"I take it he knows what went on during your high school late-nights?" He asked and Yumi smiled slightly.

"He was part of all of it, but that was over with before we started dating... actually it was a big part of why we waited to start dating in the first place."

"I see," said Xavier, clearly not knowing what to make of that, but feeling that it wasn't his place to ask. "Then I guess the only question left is whether or not you've told him how you feel." Yumi looked away sheepishly.

"I didn't have to..." she said cryptically as she put down her class schedule and turned the back of her hand upwards. When she looked toward Xavier he was staring at her ring with wide eyes.

"Alright... I didn't see that one coming," he muttered. "You're happy then?" He asked a little louder when he looked back up at Yumi.

"Very happy," she answered quietly with a smile.

"Well, then I'm happy for you. Good luck, Yumi." Yumi saw just a hint of sadness in his face as he stood up. "I'll see you around." He turned to leave.

"Xavier, wait!" Yumi called after he only got a couple steps and he turned back around. "You're a good man, and you were a perfect gentleman. Thank you for that. Whoever you end up marrying will be very lucky." He smiled halfheartedly. "I mean it!" His smile grew into one that was a little more genuine.

"Thanks, Yumi." He turned around again and left.

"Good luck, you really do deserve to be happy," Yumi whispered sincerely before going back to her lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to give a little closure for Xavier. I really tried to make him a good man who was very likable, but not romantically compatible with Yumi. That was a hard balance to strike at times. I hope he was a good addition to the story.


	31. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

_One year, nine months later_

_Six years, ten months after XANA's defeat_

_Late July_

Yumi stood before a massive set of double doors fidgeting nervously. Everyone else was already inside and now her father and herself were the only ones left.

"Relax Yumi, you're going to be fine," her father said softly, well as softly as Takeo Ishiyama ever got, and he patted her hand. She looked at him and he gave her a reassuring smile. She nervously returned it before glancing down at the pure white kimono she was wearing, then let her gaze return to the intimidating doors in front of her. "Are you ready?" He asked. Yumi took one last deep breath then nodded.

The doors swung open simultaneously and Yumi watched as everyone in the entire room rose to their feet. She gulped when she felt every set of eyes following her when she took a step, then another, and another. The only thing keeping her moving forward under the weight of their combined gaze was the support of her father, and the two beautiful chocolate brown eyes at the end of the aisle. To Ulrich's right was his best man Odd, then Jeremy and Hiroki. To the left was Yumi's maid of honor, Sissi, then Aelita and Hiroki's girlfriend Milly. What somehow felt like both seconds and hours later she had arrived at the front of the room. Her father kissed her cheek then took his seat next to her mother, and Yumi turned toward her very soon-to-be husband. He was beaming at her and few tears managed to slip down Yumi's face as he took her hands in his. He had worked very hard and took a number of summer classes in order to graduate a semester early so they could marry sooner. Since graduating, he'd managed to get an entry level job at a local business firm. Yumi had graduated the year before and had been getting part-time work as a substitute teacher for the experience. She was still looking for a full-time position, but they were both convinced that it was only a matter of time before she found one. Together they didn't make a lot of money, but they ran the numbers and it was enough to put food on the table, pay the rent on the small apartment that they had just leased, and put a little bit away for safe keeping.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..." the priest began.

Ulrich and Yumi spent a lot of time deciding how to mix their respective culture's traditions, but it no longer seemed to matter to either of them. Everything that wasn't the other's face or their held hands was a complete blur. That is, until the closing words...

"You may kiss the bride."

The newly married couple closed the short distance between them. Their lips met and neither one could have been happier!

Making their way through the reception was likewise a blur until shortly after dinner Ulrich's parents made their way to the newlywed couple.

"Congratulations you two," Ulrich's mother exclaimed with a smile and gave both of them a hug in turn. In the almost two years since Ulrich proposed to Yumi, his mother had warmed up to the idea of their marriage considerably. Ulrich's father stood back until his wife urged him to step up to his son and daughter-in-law. When he did, there wasn't a trace of the typical anger that was often displayed. Instead, what was written on his face was guilt and regret. Him and Ulrich hadn't spoken since their conversation about the engagement. He looked at Ulrich and opened his mouth a couple times while his son watched in confusion and amazement as no words came out. Upon failing to say anything to his son, he turned to Yumi with great sadness in his eyes. He opened his mouth again and this time was able to say something.

"Just... take better care of him then I did..." without another word he quickly walked away with his wife in tow.

They didn't have the chance to think about it for very long though because Sissi and Odd walked right up afterwards. They were both due to graduate in a couple months, and had their own wedding date set for the following spring. At the moment though, both of them were wearing very obvious teasing smirks which had Ulrich and Yumi a little nervous as they received their congratulatory hugs.

"You know," started Sissi as she pulled away after hugging Yumi. "You can't be my maid of honor anymore..." Yumi's mouth dropped open in shock, and a little bit of hurt. "No, you're just going to have to settle for being my _matron_ of honor _old lady_!" Yumi closed her mouth and glared at Sissi, but was too happy with the day's events to truly be mad. Still, she lightly swatted the side of her best friend's head who laughed!

"I'll give you 'old lady' on the sparring mat when I get back, you hear!" She threatened playfully!

They left and Yumi's parent greeted them with tearful, but joyful hugs, followed by Jeremy and Aelita. Upon finding Aelita's grandparents the two geniuses had ramped up their workload again in order to graduate sooner and be able to get married while Beatrix and Neville would still be able to attend. The elderly couple was still in good health, but they all knew there were no guarantees. The Einstein's had already gotten their master's degrees in things that neither Yumi nor Ulrich could understand, and were halfway through their doctoral theses! Despite their frantic schedules, they still made sure to make time for their Saturday morning coffee shop dates. They had tentatively set a date for their wedding one year out. For today though they were all smiles and hugs, overjoyed for their good friends. Eventually, the newly married couple made their way through all the other friends and relatives from both sides of the family.

A few tiring, but happy hours later had them waving goodbye to everyone gathered as they drove away to the hotel Ulrich had booked. Because it was their wedding day, the hotel staff allowed him to check in early that morning so they didn't have to deal with the front desk when they arrived.

"I love you Yumi... my wife!" Ulrich exclaimed happily just before they entered the room. Yumi grinned widely.

"I love you too... husband." She replied as she reached up to caress the side of his face. Ulrich glanced toward the door.

"Are you ready?" Yumi nodded nervously, but excitedly. Ulrich unlocked and opened the door, then scooped her into his arms. She giggled excitedly as he carried her across the threshold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far the largest writing project I've ever written, and it was an amazing journey! I would like to thank you for making it this far. This story arc is finished, but I'm not done with the What Came Next series. I've still got a couple ideas for it and I sincerely hope you join me on the next one!
> 
> P.S. to those who think that Aelita should have been the maid of honor, I understand why you'd think that. However, she was too far away (and far too busy with school for that matter!) to attend maid of honor duties, and having read the rest of this story is is really hard to imagine Yumi picking Sissi? ;p I personally don't think it's any harder to imagine than the rest of the gang taking their relationship cues from a relationship that Odd is a part of! XD (yes, that small bit of irony was intentional!)
> 
> That being said, I couldn't come up with a better bridesmaid than Milly to walk down with Hiroki. I'm not changing it now, but if anyone had any better suggestions I'd be curious to hear them!


End file.
